Cirno's Quest For Yuyuko's Booty!
by Hardman 5509
Summary: Seeing that Reimu has become wed to the oni Suika, Cirno has decided to become wed to the ghost princess Yuyuko. Follow her on a epic adventure to win the heart of Yuyuko...and possibly save the world. She's a idiot, it's hard to tell where's going with this. Rated T for language, sexual matters and other silly things.
1. Awakening of a Realization

Springtime had finally came back to Gensokyo, complete with Lily White racing in with her pitch of "Spring has come!" over and over again. Thankfully, Nitori had prevented her from taking a megaphone to further broadcast her favorite thing to the lands outside of Gensokyo.

In a small cave, near a running brook, on the side of a mountain, slept a small fairy on a tattered rug. She stirred, as the warm weather rush through the opening of the cave and filled the air with the boundless energy of spingtime. The fairy opened her eyes and slowly crawled back up to her feet and outside to the world. Her eyes caught green flora, light blue water, and various other brighter colors that signaled the warmers seasons had come forward.

Cirno didn't like this. "Last time I try hibernation." She yawned before slowly getting back up into the air and heading out into the open sky.

As part of her plan to become even stronger than before, Cirno decided to sleep all the way through December and all the way to the middle of March. She figured that by getting plenty of rest she would be full of energy and rearing to do more fights, sort like a EXP boost. But no, all she had were sore bones and eyes that demanded to be shut and stay shut. Cirno bobbed up and down in the air as her frail body struggled against the strong currents of wind.

She looked down to the fabled land. Nothing different, maybe a few new buildings in the human village, but it's not like she paid attention to that. The most important thing in the entire realm of Gensokyo still stood tall, if leaning a bit to the side. The Hakurei Shrine, with it's lovely shrine maiden sweeping away dust on the road leading to the shrine, her eyes like a raven looking for treasure.

"Shrine Maiden!" Cirno called out to her, descending down to greet her 'friend'. Reimu let out a sigh as she turned to face the fairy. "Did you miss me?"

Reimu muttered something under his breath, something about the end of a good streak and a 'not really', before speaking in a clear voice: "Oh? You were gone?"

"I hibertated…hibernated." Cirno stumbled before corrected herself. "I thought it would make me even stronger…but I feel bad."

"Oh." Reimu sighed as she stopped sweeping. "Guess you're not up for that."

"Yeah!" Cirno chirped. "Hey, anything big happen while I was asleep? Mad weather, aliens, evil humans, giant thingie…"

"Well." Reimu shrugged as she rolled her head around, her hands balanced on the tip of her broom. "Some magician dumped a great deal of junk into a forest, so me and the usual gang…plus that little girl in the bowl helped us out. One of the smelliest incidents." Reimu shivered at just the memory of how bad the garbage smelled. "Other than that, just the usual stuff. Festivals, birthday parties…nuthin' special."

"Oh, that's good." Cirno nodded, taking in the, rather boring to her, green sight of the forest surrounding the shrine. While scanning around, something golden caught her eyes. She followed the glitter and noticed it emitted from Reimu's hand. Weird, you would have thought that anything that shiny would have ended up in the donation box or in Reimu's wallet. In her usual manner, Cirno reached up and grabbed Reimu by the wrist. "What's this?" She asked in awe.

"You saw it." Reimu groaned before shaking Cirno off. "I was hoping you wouldn't see it." She sighed as she played with her ring. "Yes, this is a ring. A ring I got in…a special event."

"Oooh!" Cirno clapped. "A special event! What special event would give you a ring though?" She tapped the side of her head. "Some sort of holiday? Maybe it's a new tradition for New Years?"

"Cirno." Reimu blankly stated. "I got married." Cirno turned her head, not really sure what that meant exactly. "Me and a person close to me exchanged rings and now we live together." It seems that a few gears started to click in Cirno's mind, but the machine just ain't running. "We share a bed."

"You're butt buddies!" Cirno snapped her fingers with a childish laugh.

"Yes." Reimu groaned even louder. Cirno must have overheard some drunk person a while back. "We are…butt buddies." She sighed as the words left her mouth. "It's a more complex relationship than that. And even though I'm a shrine maiden and we're discouraged from even having a relationship as far as hugs, we do enjoy each other's company, dressed or naked."

"Wow…" Cirno trailed off. "So who's your butt buddy?" She sounded just like she ignored the previous statement.

"Her." Reimu pointed behind her towards a small garden next to the shrine. The garden just got started, so the biggest things were the mounds of upturned dirt. Tending to the garden with a hoe stood a distinctive girl with two giant horns protruding out of her head. The way she used the hoe to strike the ground like one who chops wood with a axe made it clear she had no experience working on plants. Suika Ibuki happily smashed away at the grass to make room for more crops, not really caring if the new ground was level.

"You married Suika?" Cirno gasped.

"Long story." Reimu nodded her head. "But yeah…I'm Reimu Ibuki now."

Cirno looked a bit dazed about this event. The shrine maiden marrying a oni? Wouldn't that be scandalous? Sure, she just learned the meaning of marriage only a minute ago, but even her realized the implications. "Wouldn't the human dislike you being with a oni?" She asked.

"Doesn't change anything." Reimu sighed as she continued sweeping. "My shrine has always been a gathering place for yokai and other weirdoes, so it's really nothing different than before. The same small group of people who make the same donations."

"Maybe I should get married." Cirno wandered off in a different direction, at least in speech.

"Yeah, sure." Reimu shrugged. "With whom? One of your fairy friends?"

"I was thinking…the big ghost lay? I like her."

Reimu stopped sweeping. "You want to marry the ghost princess." She affirmed. Cirno nodded, looking very certain. "You want to marry a incorporable being on the same level of Yukari Yakumo who would most likely eat you as a topping to her meals." Cirno again nodded, her smile big and long as her face. Reimu shrugged and added, "Yeah, sure go ahead. Ask for her hand in marriage. Might to read a book on the whole thing, study the methods…"

"I don't think I'm strong enough to propose to her…" Cirno sighed.

"You don't know what marriage was just a minute ago, but you know what proposing is?" Reimu pointed out.

Cirno moved on regardless. "In order to be a appropriate butt buddy to the ghost lady, I need to be the strongest not in Gensokyo, but in all of reality." Her eyes got all starry as she considered her plan of action. "I must train my body and defeat all the potential mates to win ghost lady's heart."

"Can you at least remember her name?" Reimu huffed, just going along with Cirno now. "It's Yuyuko. Yuyuko Saigyouji."

"I need to make myself to be the most appealing person to Yuckyo." Cirno slammed her fist into her open hand. "I need to start my training now! Later Shrine Maiden!" And with that, Cirno flew off into the sky, heading off in some random direction to start her grand training. Suika finally turned around and saw Cirno flying off and Reimu shaking her head.

"Oh, I haven't seen her in a while." Suika approached Reimu and kissed her on the cheek. "She mooching for something?"

"No." Reimu breathed out of her nose. "She wants to marry Yuyuko."

"Wow." Suika whistled. "That's a tall order."

"I'm guessing this is the start of something rather big…and stupid." Reimu looked up to the sky, wondering what will come next.


	2. Lemonade Day

Her mission was clear. She needed to become the strongest being not just in the land of Gensokyo, not just in the world, not just the galaxy, not just the universe, but in all history of all existence, all to win the heart of a woman she met...really under a double-digit number of times, Cirno lost count. She needed an extensive amount of training, one that would push her to the limits, and push her beyond those limits…

…now only if she knew where to go and find such training. Right now, she's was flying around without a single clue as to where to go or who to ask for help. She already considered herself the strongest for a long time, so who could possibly train her? She would need a god to train her…no, a super god! Cirno would need someone out of his world…

OryouknowshecouldjustgodownthepathofnonviolenceandjsuttalkthingwithYuyukoandestablishagoodrelationshipwithherbeforemovingontobeingbuttbuddies.

But Cirno had something against doing things the easy way. She needed to prove to Yuyuko that she was the right person to be wed too and therefore she would defeat all the suitors competing for the hand of the ghost princess. The only person that Cirno trusted to help her was her good friend Daiyousei. She would have the proper advice that Cirno would need.

Cirno passed over the Scarlet Manor on the way to go see her friend. The ice fairy played little attention to the mansion, as she held little interest in the place. Playtime with Rumia and Flandre just wasn't as fun as it used to be. Rumia keeps running into walls and Flandre keep blowing them up. Really hard to play hide-n'-seek with them. Plus, the mistress of the manor mentioned how she would love to serve Cirno in a glass of wine…

Still, she pressed on and eventually landed in a small grove on a little overlook next to the lake. It didn't take long to locate her friend; Daiyousei was making a crown of flowers while whistling some happy little tune. Cirno flew right up to her and gave her a hearty smack on the back while declaring, "Dai-chan!" Daiyousei reacted like any sane person would: yelping while leaping twenty feet into the air, causing her flower crown to fall apart and become adrift in the wind. "I need your advice on a very important matter sister!"

"Okay." Daiyousei took a deep breath to collect herself. "What do you need?"

"I want to marry Yuyuko." Cirno proudly declared with her hands on her hips. Daiyousei would have jumped up twenty feet in the air, but she already did that. Didn't like the landing. "But I need to become strong enough to win her love and fight off any competition…and I have no idea where to begin training for that. Do you know where I could find a good trainer or somesort of peninsula where I can powerlevel?"

"Uhh…" Daiyousei muttered. Really, why would she know? Cirno was already the strongest fairy in Gensokyo, so why would she ask someone weaker than her? Okay, admittedly, Daiyousei knew that she had a little bit more brainpower than Cirno (mostly due to her common sense) and retained memory of names, but still! At the least, she could offer up a name of someone that could help Cirno.

"Well…" Daiyousei sighed. "There is Keine…but she might be in one of her 'anti-youkai' moods. I recommend you go visit her with light steps…"

"Thanks, bye!" Cirno gave a quick hug to her friend before zipping off into the skies to go find the hidden human village that wasn't really that well-hidden. Daiyousei once more sighed as she went off to collect new flowers for her crown. That was pretty much how life worked for her: deal with Cirno and go back to whatever she was doing before the ice fairy bombarded.

Cirno had to fly back over the Hakurei Shrine on the way to Keine's village. While Cirno didn't drop by to visit the shrine maiden and her new 'husband', we will to conclude this chapter.

Reimu gently raised her antique teacup up to her lips and sipped at the steaming jasmine tea. She breathed out of her nose to further ease into the gentle yet strong flavor of her drink. She put down the teacup when she heard the obvious stomps of her beloved coming inside. Reimu reached over and poured Suika a cup of tea that was already set at her usual place in advance. Suika laid her hoe against the wall, wiped her dirty brow, and plopped down on her cushion. "Man, I got to give the gardeners of the world credit, it's a hard work!" She quickly downed her cup without checking the contents of the cup. She quickly yelped like a dog when the scalding liquid burned up in her throat and spilled out the tea out onto the floor.

"Didn't you see the steam?" Reimu groaned as she grabbed a towel and started to clean up the mess. Suika crawled over to the kitchen to grab a glass of cold water to cool her throat.

"I thought it was lemonade…" Suika moaned after downing her third glass of icy water.

"I wouldn't serve lemonade in my nice china, I have those tall clear glasses for that." Reimu returned to her calm state following another sip of tea.

"Do you actually have the stuff for lemonade?" Suika asked, before a quick thinking session came upon her. Then she asked: "Do you even know how to make lemonade?"

"Of course!" Reimu huffed. "You…" She motioned with her hands squeezing a invisible object, hopefully a lemon. "…squeeze the lemon over a glass and drink it."

"That's just lemon juice." Suika shook her head. "You need to do a bit more than that…" Suika got up and went back into the kitchen. After rummaging through for a bit, Suika returned with a giant handful of lemons, a bag of sugar, a carton of water, a giant pitcher and a tiny saltshaker balancing on top of the lemons. While the lemons scattered around the table when Suika dropped them, the saltshaker simply landed on the table and didn't spill. Barely missed getting a ton of bad luck.

"First off…" Suika started as she held a lemon over the pitcher. "You squeeze!" And so she did, inadvertently spraying lemon juice all over the room. At least Suika had already closed her eyes and Reimu's long hair blocked most of the juice. Looking down, only a few drops entered the pitcher, so only a minor success. Reimu kept still, thinking to herself about something other than strangulation. "…okay, first off…" Suika started again, this time holding the lemon closer to the pitcher's mouth. "You GENTLY squeeze." Holding back most of her strength, Suika squeezed, actually getting a nice and heavy shower of lemon juice into the pitcher. "And you need to do this a few more times."

"Uh-huh." Reimu spluttered before grabbing her handy towel to go and clean the walls. She almost considered letting it go, the smell of lemon would make the place smell lively. But as lemon-scent isn't really lemon juice, and lemon juice is still liquid and would not only stain the walls and carpet and make sticky damp spots, absorbed into the cloth it goes!

"Then you add the water." Suika went on to the second step and actually managed to get the water into the pitcher without spilling it over the table or the floor. "Now, comes the next two things." Suika held up the saltshaker and the bag of sugar.

"I can get the sugar…but the salt?" Reimu turned her head as she rubs some lemon juice off a glass portrait of her and Suika's wedding photo. Suika and Reimu, dressed in the black and white kimonos respectively, awaiting at the altar. Reimu thought back to reality, not wanting to caught up in memories at the moment when Suika could blow up the house…again.

"It balances the drink." Suika remarked as she gently shook a few pinches into the pitcher. "Now the sugar to make it sweet." She ripped open the bag of sugar and readied to dump it in.

"Uh, you might want to get a spoon." Reimu's voice quivered as she witnessed the mess apocalypse unfolding right in front of her. She crawled over to Suika

"Relax, I'm a excellent shot." Suika beamed as she unloaded the sugar into the pitcher.

Good news: the sugar ended up in the pitcher.

But mostly bad news: too much sugar ended up in the pitcher, on the table, on the floor, the lower half of Suika and on Reimu's face.

After twenty minutes of the two cleaning up their room of the dirt that Suika tracked in, the spilled tea, the lemon juice and the sugar, they sat down to enjoy Suika's lemonade.

"It's a little sweet." Reimu commented after taking her first sip.

"Like you." Suika planted a kiss on Reimu's cheek.

"Thanks." Reimu returned the kiss.


	3. Meeting The Teacher Before School

Keine took a deep breath. Now that she finished grading her student's homework, she needed to go back and grade her grading. This was all apart of her special teaching method; making sure she didn't feel sad for one certain student or got too angry at one student and give them a different grade than what they actually deserved. For instance, Koga Madarame was graded with a 69 when he deserved a 68. As a student, Koga needed to focus a bit more. Good thing she caught that, he might have gotten a swelled head.

She looked out to the lovely world of springtime. This had to be the best time of year. So peaceful. Little gusts of wind that calmed her instead of annoying blowing away, the flowers that were blooming didn't release obnoxious pollen or scents, and the entire environment just felt so quiet and serene…

"KEINE!" Bombarded a annoying fairy who landed next to her.

If only she had the ability to transform without the aide of the full moon.

"What do you want, fairy?" Keine groaned, doing her best to keep her cool and not headbutt Cirno for interrupting her grading session.

"I want to marry Yuyuko, but I need to become stronger." Cirno stated her mission. Keine blinked away, trying to understand a single sentence of what she just said. One of the weakest youkais marrying one of the strongest? Keine hated all youkais equally…but this was stupidly insane. Surely the aura of the ghost princess would destroy this moron if they got close together.

"And you came to me." Keine asked after she managed to collect herself. "The local youkai hater."

"I came to you as a teacher." Cirno affirmed. "I need you to teach me to be even stronger!"

"I'm a history teacher." Keine sighed, reaching for her tea to continue to calm her nerves. "I teach what happened and what can happen by using history as a guideline. I'm not a dojo master. Try that hermit who lives in the mountains. She can probably teach you."

"But you're a teacher." Cirno marveled. "You must be able to teach me something."

"Common sense would you do some good." Keine hissed under her breath before normally speaking: "I have nothing to offer you. I can't teach you anything you can't learn from anyone else." Keine turned to Cirno to tell her to go away, either with a stare or a powerful headbutt. But Cirno seemed lost in thought…or whatever passed for thought in her head.

"I had a ephinany." Cirno spat out.

"Epiphany." Keine corrected.

"I don't just need to be strong enough to woo Yuyuko…" Cirno slammed her fist into her palm. "I need to be smart! I'll woo her with trivia!"

"Yeah, doesn't make you a weirdo or anything by rattling off random facts." Keine once more spoke under her breath. But she did speak normally for the next part. "Look." She breathed out her nose. "I don't really teach Youkai…but as a teacher, I have a obligation to those who want to learn. So…" She let out a huge breath of air before she said the next part. "…yes. I can teach you…and the other younger youkai who came to me."

"Thank you!" Cirno leaped up and tightly hugged Keine. If Cirno looked up, she would have seen the emergence of tiny tips of horns. But after Cirno hopped back down, the tips vanished. Keine gritted her teeth. She really needed to attend more anger management classes.

"Listen up." Keine put on her teacher voice, booming and kept the little ones quiet. "I will only teach you on the days with full moons. That's once every month…and the next one is in five days." She held up five fingers. "Five days. Five moons from today. Five sleepy times then stay up…"

"I know what a day is, Ms. Keine." Cirno interrupted in a somewhat kind manner.

"DON'T INTERUPT ME!" Keine unloaded as she swung her head downward. Cirno flew up into the air with a shrill scream to avoid the headbutt. The floor of the deck where she used to sit didn't have a chance to escape and instead got caved in. "Just be here at nine pm five days from now!" Keine growled upward to the sky, stomping the ground hard enough to leave a noticeable crater.

"But where do I go to get some real training?" Cirno yelled down. "The mind is a beautiful thing and all, but I need some real power!"

"Go hit up the monk in the mountains then!" Keine roared, her temper breaking through her calm façade. Cirno looked on with a confused look. "Kasen! ASK HER!" And with a howl to the sky, she ripped up a nearby small tree and tossed it like a spear at the ice fairy. Cirno screamed and flew away to the mountains screaming.

Kiene had to admit, she got a kick out of tormenting Cirno. Sure, she was a child in mind and appearance, but as a youkai, she needed a scare every so often. After taking a relaxing breath to get herself back in her normal hole, she noticed the damage to the land around her. She let out a annoyed groan as she went over to the large shed nearby to go and repair the damage she caused. She couldn't believe that her entire month's salary went into that shed and supplies and it was a god buy.

Maybe she should have her youkai students do her chores…


	4. The Twin Peaks

Cirno had to stop and ask directions about every two minutes trying to locate the hermit of Youkai Mountains…or at least to get to the mountains in the first place.

She ran into Sanae at the Moriya Shrine. The green-haired maiden was sitting at the steps leading up to the shrine, reading a book on the various legends of Gensokyo. Sanae was so invested in the legend of Iwanagahime, that she didn't notice Cirno zipping down to her level and tapping her on the shoulder. "Hey hey." Cirno asked in a normal voice before shouting, "HEY HEY!" Sanae leapt up into the air and came down with the force of a anvil.

"Cirno!" Sanae gasped. "Do you do this with every person you meet?"

"I don't mean it." Cirno pouted. "I want to find the hermit…Karin?"

"Kasen." Sanae corrected. "Okay." She let out a sharp breath, cleared her throat. "She lives near the left-side of the cliffs, middle between the base and the top, her house sticks right out." She pointed to her right.

"But that's the right." Cirno pointed out.

"I know, but that's the left."

"No, that's right."

"It's left." Sanae stood up. She faced away from Cirno, now facing the stairs. She pointed it to the left with her hand arm. "That's left."

"Then why did you point with your right?" Cirno groaned.

"Because I was facing the other way!"

"Could you just point with your left?"

"It's easier with the right!"

"But that's confusing! Point to the left with your left hand, and to right with your right hand!"

"Fine! Head left from here!"

"That's right!"

"Yes it is!"

"No, that's right!"

"What, it's left!"

"It's not right!"

"IT'S LEFT!"

"YOU'RE POINTING TO THE RIGHT!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, SO GO THERE!"

"BUT YOU TOLD ME TO GO LEFT!"

"YES, THAT'S RIGHT!"

"BUT I NEED TO GO LEFT!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!"

"IS THAT A DIRECTION OR A AFFIRMATIVE?"

"AAAAIIIIEEEE!" Sanae shrilled out as she grabbed Cirno by both arms with both hands, lifted her up and tossed her like how a Scottish record-setter tosses a caber. A stupefied Cirno allowed herself to fly in such a manner before she plowed into the ground and dug in further for a few inches. After managing to climb out of the deep skid mark, Cirno decided it would be better to continue onward in this direction. Sanae didn't need any more fairy tossing practice today.

She felt that she gotten closer to her destination, but simply going…west…wasn't getting her any closer to finding a dojo. Cirno lifted her head up and inhaled through her nose, trying to pick up the smell of animal droppings. She didn't know much about Kasen, but she did know that she hung around with plenty of animals. Therefore: multicellular eukaryotic organism feces equal hermit monk.

The only thing Cirno smelled was grapes. Strong smell too.

"Like it?" Easily breathed out the tall oni, Yuugi, as she strolled over to Cirno. "It's some sort of wine from the outside world, from the west." She arched her back and leaned back pretty far as she chugged down an entire bottle of European wine in one swig. "Sorry, cost me a arm and leg to get. You ain't getting none."

"I don't care." Cirno honestly spoke. "I'm just looking for the hermit so I can become even stronger. Can you point to her?"

Yuugi looked down on Cirno, both literally and figuratively. "Oh ho?" She remarked as she smashed the bottle against the side of the mountain. Cirno jumped and readied to fire off a spell-card…only to see Yuugi rub the jagged end of the broken bottle against the wall to smooth out the sharp teeth. Once the bottle had been reduced being as deadly as safety scissors, Yuugi stuck her tongue down the sides of the bottle to lick up the remaining drops. "And you…can survive her training?"

"Of course!" Cirno huffed triumphantly. "I must become even stronger if I'm able to become a proper butt buddy to Yuyuko!"

Because she got to try a new type of booze today, Yuugi was a pleasant mood. So instead of using the fairy for football practice, she decided to instead humor her. "You want to marry the princess of the underground huh? Good luck with that, that's a tall order."

"Which is why I must be the strongest in the universe." Cirno puffed out her chest. "Which is why I must find this monk, do you know where she is?"

"Why don't I teach ya?" Yuugi pointed the broken end of the bottle to Cirno. "I'm a tough gal. Pretty sure you learn a few things from me."

"Like what?

"Endurance." Yuugi flexed. "To the elements, to attacks, to food poisoning, to alcohol consumption…"

"Well…" Cirno considered it, tapping a finger against her chin.

"Me and Kasen are good buddies." Yuugi explained as soon as she finished licking away the last drop of the wine. "She can teach how to hit things hard and I can teach you to how survive things hitting you. Yeah…" She bobbed her head up and down in thought. "…yeah…I'll take you to Kasen."

"Wow!" Cirno clapped her hands in a wonderful combination of happiness and anticipation. "This is great!"

"But first!" Yuugi held up a finger. "How do you plan on paying me?"

"Buh?"

"Paying me." Yuugi pointed to herself. "Ya know. For training. I need money. Give me money." She waved her fingers, demanding that Cirno pull out a huge wad of bills out of nowhere and pay her. "I can't run free. I need money to afford booze, food, and other things I need."

"Oh." Cirno muttered. "Well…I guess I'm going to pass on your training. I'll just ask Kasin…"

"She ain't no charity case either." Yuugi planted a open palm on Cirno's head to prevent the fairy from fleeing.

"Double negative?" Cirno corrected with a meek voice.

"Okay." Yuugi groaned. "Kasen isn't a charity case. She isn't going to train you for free. Sure, not as much as me…but you still got to make it worth her time." She picked up Cirno and carried her around like how someone would carry a lamp. Yuugi started to whistle out some weird tune she overheard the other day. Cirno assumed that the tune was a death march.

After two minutes of bounding across many cliffs, Yuugi planted Cirno back on her feet in front of Kasen's dojo. Cirno's nose finally picked up the scent of animal waste nearby. She came to the right place…hopefully she would be able to actually leave here with both limbs intact. Physically of course, but going by what Yuugi just said…

"Yo ho Kasen!" Yuugi called out. "You got a possible student out here." A low groan could be heard coming from inside of the tall dojo. The door slid fast to the other side, causing it to jump a bit as the pink-haired hermit walked out into the outside world. "I suppose you heard about this little fairy here?"

"Yes." Kasen cleared her throat before talking in her usual lady manner. "Cirno…the strongest in Gensokyo." Cirno meekly nodded. "And she wants to learn from me?" Kasen tilted her head. "What does she seek from me…and for what purpose?" She slowly walked around Cirno, examining every inch of the fairy. Cirno wisely stood still. "If she wishes to use power to needlessly harm others, then I refuse to teach you. And if lie to me, I will have no choice but to hunt you down…"

"I want to marry Yuyuko!" Cirno suddenly blurted out.

"You came to learn about ancient arts so you could impress one lady." Kasen groaned as she held her head in her right hand. Seems like she had a wild night. "Even though she has the power level of a goddess, this seems like a waste of time…and yours." She turned around to go back inside.

"Had a bit too much?" Yuugi asked.

"Really hard to put down my glass, so good…" Kasen exhaled out a broken sentence, once more holding her head. She stopped in her tracks, clutching her head as she bent down. "Wow…ooh…" She moaned as her brain punched against the side of her head with repeated blows.

"Hold on." Cirno flew over to Kasen and laid a flat palm on her forehead. Cirno let out a calm breath and focused her power through her hand; her palm became a icepack that allowed Kasen's body to relax. Yuugi looked on with a small smile.

"Thank you." Kasen gently sighed as she got up. "I believe that I can teach you somethings to make you even stronger." She put on a easy smile while facing Cirno. "And I also believe I have found a way you can pay me."

"Cooling you off?" Cirno asked.

"No, servant." Kasen yawned out. "I do someone to help out with my friends." She pointed behind her, to a gated fence where the smell of feces strongly emitted from. "If you are willing to help me around the dojo, I will teach you what I know…so you can use it to impress Yuyuko."

"Oh, okay…" Cirno looked down. "I'll do it…"

"Hmmm…." Yuugi wondered out loud. "I really don't need a servant…" She laid a finger on her chin and rocked her head back and forth in thought. She snapped her fingers. "Got it! I don't need a servant, I need a gofer!"

"A what?" Cirno asked in a hollow tone.

"I need someone to do my chores and run errands for me." Yuugi shrugged. "Go there and do my biz for me. You can do that, right?"

"Yeah!" Cirno placed her hands on her hips with a confident smile. "I can do everything you throw at me! I'll tackle them head-on, no matter what!"

Two demonic grins came upon the two new masters. Cirno gulped, but kept her pose rigid and still. She could feel the rather malevolent aura coming off the two of them. But she felt that her final goal was just too important to her to let go so she steeled herself for whatever came next.


	5. And Baby Make Three

Reimu mused over the new calendar as she sipped away at her usual nighttime cup of oolong tea. Cirno needed some help organizing her time now she had to attend three different master's classes. The days of the full moon were marked in bright red as a clear reminder to attend Kiene's class least Cirno were to suffer the wrath of Kiene. Other than that, every other day was marked with blue for Yuugi and green for Kasen. The top part of the calendar had the locations for each teacher…as Cirno would end up mixing up the colors and locations.

It seems that Cirno was very serious about marrying Yuyuko. After coming down from the mountains, Cirno returned to the Hakurei Shrine with the good news.

"I'm going to be training with the hermit and the big oni lady!" She announced to Reimu, currently cleaning the gate with a wet cloth. "And learning about stuff from crazy cow lady."

"Wow." Reimu whistled, actually impressed. "You managed to convince three Stage 3 bosses to teach you. Impressive."

"Stage 3?" Cirno quizzed.

"For me anyway." Reimu shrugged. "So." She shrugged again. "The point of you being here?"

"Well…" Cirno looked down and tapped the ground with her left foot. "I have a schedule to keep to…a rigid schedule." She let out a little weak giggle. "…I'm not good with scheduling. Or keeping to it." She then muttered something that Reimu couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry." Reimu held up a hand. "I didn't catch that. Could you please repeat that a bit louder?"

"Nmmef dert nutf mmert."

"Okay, could you please repeat that with volume and clarity this time?"

"…I'm not that smart…"

"AH-HA!" Reimu hollered. "It's about time you came clean and admitted the truth!" She cheered to herself while Cirno just stared at her with angry eyes. Such eyes would normally make Reimu break out a spell card to save herself, but knowing Cirno, Reimu was perfectly safe as long as she stood where she was; right in front of Cirno.

But Cirno's angry expression faded and she sniffed. Reimu stopped her laughter and looked back to Cirno. "Cirno…are you going to cry?" She asked, completely sincere. Cirno nodded, her eyes starting to water. Reimu did feel a bit sorry for picking on Cirno in her moment of honesty. "I'm sorry…is there anyway I could help?"

"There is something you can do." Cirno quickly dropped her sad face and put a serious face. Reimu suddenly wanted to slap Cirno, but decided to hear her out. Hopefully Cirno would say something that would keep her alive. "I need someone to keep me to a schedule and make sure I go to all of my classes on time."

"And you picked me instead of someone who has more free time…?"

'Because you're the smartest person in the land that I can trust." Reimu's perked up after hearing that quick praise. "And you're capable of kicking my butt into gear."

"Of course I can." Reimu admitted, leaning against the side of the gate. "Yet…" Reimu shook her head side to side. "…the easiest way to make this possible is if you stay here at the shrine, but I already got Suika living here. Don't have much living place for you to stay…"

"I can sleep on the couch!" Cirno piped in. "I like couch beds."

"Guess you could sleep in the living room…hey…" Reimu snapped her fingers. "…you could be our air conditioner!"

"Huh?"

"When it's hot, you could cool down the shrine for me and Suika! Wait, wait! You could also divert cold winds during colder days!" Reimu put on a satisfied smile. "Yes, if you do that, you can stay as long as you want…" Her smile faded as she stared Cirno down. "…provided you don't wreck the shrine."

"Pinkie promise?" Cirno nervously raised her pinky up.

"You're older than me." Reimu remarked as she folded her arms. Cirno held the pinky up for a bit before dropping it. "Okay. Besides being our thermostat, what else can you provide us…" Reimu rapped a finger against her chin before going with one of her favorite subjects, "Money? Can you pay us?"

"Man, everyone in Gensokyo is greedy." Cirno moaned under her breath.

"What's that?" Reimu asked. Her eyes shone red.

"Man, everyone in Gensokyo is thrifty." Cirno corrected herself before also brining up something she just remembered. "Oh yeah…Yuugi mentioned that I could keep the change…"

"What change?"

"For doing her errands." Cirno told. "She gives me money to go and buy some things for her, and I'm allowed to use the change for whatever."

"Well…" Reimu had to strengthen herself to not lick her lips. "If you're willing to part with the change as a donation to the shrine…"

"I'll give half." Cirno wagged a finger. "I want to buy things myself!"

"DEAL!" Reimu stuck out her hand and Cirno shook in exchange.

Cirno had already fallen asleep on her makeshift cot, having been moved into Reimu and Suika's bedroom. She wanted to sleep in the living room as previously arranged, but Reimu insisted that she could sleep in their room. Mostly because that Cirno could cool the room down and make their pillows nice and cold, but on a written report it would read: "To show that she's welcome into the Hakurei Shrine."

"It's like having a kid." Suika remarked as she came and joined Reimu at the table. "Hey!" She slapped Reimu on the back, causing the shrine maiden to spit out her drink and lurch forward. "At least we didn't have to change her diapers."

"This is Cirno we're talking about." Reimu sighed as she grabbed a napkin to clean up her mess. "We need to make sure she doesn't enrage anyone too powerful and destroy the shrine."

"So instead of having a child, we have a teenager." Suika gently patted on Reimu's back. "That's even worse, huh?"

"I'm trying to remain hopeful." Reimu admitted. "This might turn out for the better. Cirno might actually stop being a nuisance and become someone…" She stumbled over what word she could use to describe Cirno appropriately. "…someone…"

"Likeable?" Suika filled in.

"Yeah." Reimu breathed out her nose. "Yeah."

"So!" Suika clapped her hands. "I was thinking I would take Cirno up into the mountains to go see Yuugi…"

"Uh, no." Reimu quickly interrupted. "I'll take Cirno for Yuugi's training, and you take her to go see Kasen." Suika looked down. "Yeah, I'm not going to let you use our child as a excuse to go and see a drinking buddy." She turned away and muttered, "A drunk Cirno would be too much anyway."

"Our child?" Suika gasped in excitement, looking back up with a starstruck eyes. "You acknowledged!"

"Argh." Reimu let out a long breath. "Yeah, yeah. She is a child, and it's our responsibility to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or others. But…" She squirmed a bit. "…she's not OUR child. You know what I mean." Suika let out a long 'ah' as she looked away. "Sorry."

Suika nodded a few times before a big smile appeared on her face. "Hey…maybe Eirin…"

"No."

"But I haven't even…"

"I know, and it's still no."

Suika looked dejected. Reimu patted her on the shoulder. "Besides, we don't need another child. That…" She panned her arms around the room. "…we don't have much room…or the money…to actually have another child."

"Is there a but?"

Reimu breathed out. "It's a maybe. If things improve."

Suika went to bed with high hopes and a big old smile on her face. Reimu could also get into a nice deep sleep pretty fast thanks to Cirno cooling their room down to a pleasant temperature. So far, the deal was working for all involved. For now. For now.


	6. The Best Policy

"Get up Cirno."

"Hmmm…"

What it took to awaken the slumbering fairy was a sharp, but soft yet effective kick to the head. Cirno moaned, stirred and opened her eyes to the sight of a angry shrine maiden tapping her non-fairy-stomping foot with her arms crossed. "Ah, morning." Cirno greeted as she slowly rose herself up.

"Is it?" Reimu mockingly questioned, pointing to the nearby window. Bright clear sunlight broke through the shutters. This sent Cirno into a panic. She jumped up out of the cot and flew up into the air and looked at Reimu with a specific question in mind. "Yes, it's ten to ten. You have that much to get to Kasen's class." Cirno yelped and flew around in a circle, panicking to herself. "I tried to get up." Reimu shrugged with a annoyed sigh. "But you then went back to sleep after you promised to get up…"

"IM SCREWED!" Cirno yelled.

"Calm down." Reimu shook her head and held up one of Cirno's dresses. "Here's a clean dress. I just pressed it you." She then tossed it over to Cirno who managed to catch it. "Suika has made you a bagged lunch…despite the fact we don't have that much."

"I need to get going!" Cirno shouted as she hopped into her dress and zipped into the living room, where Suika held up the lunch bag. Cirno snatched the bag, flew outside and shouted a quick "Good-bye and see you later!" before speeding up to the mountain.

"Her first day of school." Suika sighed as she wrapped her arm around Reimu's.

"Hopefully it's not her last." Reimu remarked.

Cirno at least remembered where Kasen's dojo was. Just west of the steps of the Moriya Shrine, about one mighty throw by the shrine maiden, then north a bit by the average distance of a oni-tuck-and-carry and you'll arrive at the home of the hermit.

"Hmm." Was Kasen's greeting when Cirno finally arrived in a huff. "You're…" Kasen counted off her fingers. "…only a second late to my class. Oh, that's bad." She shook her head in disappointment.

"What…" Cirno coughed off, dropping her bagged lunch onto the ground. "That's…stupid!" She suddenly. "A single second late is bad! Most people would just call it on time, or just say it's okay…"

"Think!" Kasen sharply shouted. Cirno braced for a blow, but Kasen staid still. "If we counted just a second late as good, then it's only fair if it's two seconds late. Soon, it starts rolling on and on, like a cheese-wheel going down a grassy hill. It's one second first, then it's a minute. Where do we draw the line?" She rolled her head around. "There's no penalty to being early outside of being bored waiting."

"Come on!" Cirno stomped her foot. "That's ridiculous! A minute and second are two different things!"

"THINK!" Kasen stomped in retaliation, hard enough to make Cirno lose her balance and fall onto her rear-end. "Do you think arguing with me is going to make you stronger?" She sharply told Cirno off. "As a long term resident of this mad land of Gensokyo, you should know that conflict isn't resolved with debate, it's resolved with danmaku battles."

"Fine." Cirno got up and dusted off the bottom part of her dress. "Let's get this over with."

"Good." Kasen loosened her rigid stance and waved at Cirno to come and follow her to go behind the animal gate. Cirno took a deep breath, laid her bagged lunch near the front door, and followed Kasen into the animal pen. Cirno's nose scrunched up as she went further behind Kasen's dojo. The first creature that Cirno recognized was the giant eagle Kume, looking at Cirno like she was a treat. In fact, the other mystical creatures viewed the fairy like how a kid viewed a frozen popsicle on a hot summer day.

"They like you." Kasen commented on.

"Not in that way." Cirno meekly whispered.

"This will be real simple." Kasen lead Cirno over to a series of sheds. "When you come to class, I will expect you to come to the pen first and spread the feed to all the animals." She opened the door to one of the sheds, showing the giant bags of feed with giant pictures of the animals the feed was meant for. "Even you should know what animals need what feed."

"Yeah." Cirno admitted. These bags were obviously bigger than her and definitely heavier than her. Maybe this was apart of the training, weight lifting.

"For your sake, you don't need to wash them." Kasen continued. "They're capable of cleaning themselves, save for…"

"The eagle?"

"Clean the eagle and he'll peck your eyes out."

"Oh."

"The dragon." She pointed over to a nearby cave. "He needs someone to clean the area in between his wings." Kasen handed Cirno a big push-mop and a bucket of soapy water. "The animals' feed can wait, but the dragon's bath needs to be done now." She then left without a good word of luck. A wide-eyed Cirno's hands trembled as she gazed into the cave, hoping that the dragon hear his master and would come out instead of Cirno having to walk into the dark cave by herself.

But no, the dragon's low growl was a kind invitation for Cirno to come inside and give him his sponge bomb.

With careful and trembling steps, Cirno walked in a straight line into the cave. As the cave's floor felt rough and looked to be jagged up ahead, Cirno hovered above the floor and mustered the courage to fly forward. The air smelled strongly of sulfide and burnt toast. Up ahead Cirno could see the shadow of something breathing out a thick grey smog.

The European dragon Koutei awaited Cirno to wash the scales between his wings. He flicked his tongue out at the fairy, his own special way of saying "Hurry up."

" _This is easy_." Cirno admitted to herself in her head. " _You are the strongest, it's just a dragon, probably can't make danmaku_." This steeled her enough to get closer to the dragon until another unwanted thought intruded. " _It could fry me with it's breath. That's a solid beam, there's no dodging that in this narrow cave."_ Koutei let another low growl, getting impatient.

Cirno decided then and there just to rush through the whole ordeal without focusing on the fact she was bathing a giant man-eating machine. She set the bucket down on the creature's back and dunked the mop into the bucket, soaking it up. With a shaky grip on the mop, she pressed down onto the dragon's scaly back and gently pushed back and forth. Koutei breathed easily…not that Cirno could tell if it was a good or bad thing.

So far, the dragon hadn't made any attempts to eat her. Cirno looked down to the back and noticed that it didn't make much for the dull scales to be given a nice luster. Feeling that she was done for today, Cirno tossed the mop aside after taking a breath that eased the pain in her chest. She then emptied the bucket on the back without a second thought.

Even with the thick scales capable of bouncing off bullets, the cold water caused Koutei to roar and jump off the ground. Cirno yelled out and tore out of the cave with speeds matched only by a certain no-nose tengu. Kasen followed Cirno as the fairy shot out of the cave and shut herself into the shed. Koutei crawled out of his cave with fury in his reptilian eyes and small embers popping out of his toothy maw. Each step he took made the ground rumble.

Kasen held up her bandaged arm towards the dragon, palm outward and with a stern expression. It took a second, but Koutei did back down with a huff. As the dragon crawled back into the cave, Kasen walked over to the shed and opened the door. "Let me guess." She started as she spotted a shivering huddled Cirno. "You poured the water all over his back." Cirno nodded. "Ah. Yeah, he doesn't like that. Next time, just dump the water into the grass by the sheep pen. The soap won't harm the plants."

It took a minute, but Cirno was able to regain her balance and leave the shed. She spotted Kasen sitting on a fence, with a very familiar brown paper bag in her lap. "HEY!" Cirno shouted as she watched Kasen dig into the bag. "That's mine!" Cirno growled.

"Oh?" Kasen spoke as she pulled out a thermos. She twisted the cap off and took a deep whiff. "Hmm…imoni…with generic potatoes, some dirty taro roots, konnyaku, cheap pork, some sort of homegrown carrots…and there's not enough soy sauce." She listed off everything in the thermos without even looking into it. "First time meal." She remarked before turning to Cirno. "Did Reimu or Suika make this?"

"I think Suika did." Cirno huffed out. She hopped onto the fence right next to Kasen, ready to snatch her bag when Kasen got distracted.

"I heard that the little oni was working on a small garden…" Kasen spoke. "…I wonder if she's doing things the right way…" And with that, she bent over backwards and chugged the soup. Cirno roared and went to yank the thermos off her, but Kasen's strength kept her going until she decided she had enough and put the thermos down, with Cirno still hanging on. "Not bad." She coughed off. "Needs more soy sauce, as I mentioned, clean the vegetables, get some better quality meat, and a great deal of spices."

"I'll make sure to tell Suika that." Cirno stated between gritted teeth. "Now, can I…"

"No." Kasen dug into the stolen lunch sack and took everything else out; a green apple, two rice balls rolled into a napkin, a carton of milk, and even a chocolate wafer treat from the human village. "…not yet at least."

"That's my lunch!" Cirno got into a stance and readied to quickly unload a spell card or two into the monk's face. "Hand it over!"

"You haven't earned it." Kasen sharply told. "Consider this apart of training." She took one of the rice balls and nibbled on the top part. "Work fast and you can earn lunch. Just go and feed the animals and you can have your lunch break."

"BUT THAT'S THE LUNCH THAT SUIKA HOMEMADE!"

"Not these rice balls." Kasen handled the rice ball. "Mukou got one of these from a passer in the bamboo forest. These are made and sold commercially in one of the human villages." She shook her head. "How selfish of you."

"Okay." Cirno shrugged, completely apathetic and her mind going into 'screw it' mode. "Whatever does that mean?"

"I have money you know." Kasen stated before taking a second bite into the rice ball, this one bigger than the last. "Instead of accepting training, you could have asked to work for pay. The Hakurei Shrine has always money issues…"

"I only started to live at the shrine so I could be on time for training!" Cirno felt the last straw break in half. "I'm not going to let you insult me and steal my lunch!" The air around her and Kasen suddenly got cold. "Freeze Sign!" Cirno shouted. "Perfect…"

"Hand Sign, Sense-Awakening Slap." Kasen muttered as she normally backhanded Cirno with her normal right arm. This propelled Cirno into the side of the mountain with the proper amount of force to stun her and not harm her. Kasen returned to eating Cirno's lunch. "Cirno, I know you can hear me." Kasen started as she opened the milk carton and laid it on a thick fence post. "You're not as strong nor as smart as you think you are. Overconfidence will always do you in." She took a deep breath. "You wish to marry a woman you have met a scant few times, and I doubt she recalls you. And so you set off on a quest to become this strong person to woo her, all the while making others help you in your selfish quest."

She walked over to Cirno, still dazed but trying to get up. "You have the power to become truly powerful…but you're selfish reasons will always hold you back." She put up a smirk as she helped Cirno up to her feet. "It's also good relationship advice. Yuyuko won't give you the time of day if you continue to act like this." Cirno dazzlingly stumbled around for a bit before managing to safely lean against the very same wall she crashed into. "My training won't just make you stronger, but it will help you understand your faults and overcome them. Only then will you become the strong person you want to be."

"Oh, why you…" Cirno held back a curse.

"I want to help you." Kasen sighed. "But you got to be willing to change for the better."

"Yeah, yeah." Cirno hopped back to her feet. "I'll change."

"Not convincing me." Kasen shook her head.

"I'll change into a better person so I can not only marry Yuyuko, but to help others." Cirno breathed out of her nose as she spoke. "Now can I have my lunch? I don't think Reimu or Suika will like it that you stole my lunch."

"I won't have to if you don't hurry up and finish up feeding the animals. You can eat after they eat."

Cirno grumbled all the way through the chore of dragging the giant bags of feed around, opening them up, struggling to lift them up and pour just the right amount into each of the animal's bowls. At least the animals were more interested in the kibble than the ice fairy. For now at least. One might get brave and feast upon her one day.

Her arms sore from moving the heavy bags, her fingers dirty from handling the feed, and her feet muddled from walking around the animal pen. At least she had the bright idea to float around the piles of animal dung. Cirno dragged herself out of the pen and back to the front of Kasen's dojo, where Kasen awaited with the bagged lunch.

Half a thermos of stew, a single rice ball, half a carton of milk, a apple cut cleanly in half, and a single chocolate treat. More than enough for a worn-out fairy.


	7. At Home With The Family

Before Cirno knew it, the light in the sky turned from the weak blue to a strong orange as the sun started to hide behind the forest in the west.

"That's enough for a day." Kasen told. "The animals are content." She hopped up off the fence post and onto her feet.

"We didn't even get to the actual training!" Cirno protested as she put down the push broom.

"Oh yeah." Kasen looked up to the sky, a bit lost in her thoughts. "Right."

"I did all this crap for nothing?"

"Not nothing." Kasen waved her hand back and forth. "Next time, two days from now, we do the chores together. Once we finish, I'll teach you something."

"Something."

"I'll figure it out by the date."

"Wouldn't it better if I just showed up and we start training? I mean, you're still doing the chores on the days I'm not coming in."

"No." Kasen shook her head. "You are going to work regardless, so might as well get you to do as much work as possible. If you want to get strong, you will have to do as much work as possible. Further your limits."

"Fine." Cirno sighed. At this point, after hours of constant hard labor of lugging around heavy equipment, fixing up fences, and cleaning after animals, she had lost any sort of enthusiasm to really start a long argument. "I'll see you then…and I'll bring two lunches." Cirno sighed softly as she flew off. "That way I don't have to share."

"See you later Cirno." Kasen waved good-bye.

In her rush this morning, it took Cirno nine minutes to get from the Hakurei Shrine to Kasen's dojo. In her drained state, it took her exactly nine minutes…plus the twenty minutes of having to drag herself down the mountain and back to the shrine. For once, Suika greeted her instead of Reimu.

"Wow, Kasen kicked your butt." Suika remarked as she saw the exhausted fairy.

"And I didn't learn a damn thing." Cirno groaned. "Can I use your bath house?"

"Of course." Suika pointed over to said building. "The key is under the matt, please lock the door after you finish and place the key back under the matt. Also, dinner is in about two hours, so make sure you're clean and presentable before then."

Cirno let out a relived breath of air as she could finally relax her body. The next hour went by in a breeze; she wasted no time unlocking the door, stripping down and letting the lukewarm water of the small pool wash away her troubles. She did put some thought into what Kasen said, about her being selfish and only wanting to help herself at the expense of others.

She didn't put much thought into it though. Kasen did steal her lunch and belittle her, so no need to pay attention to the crazy hermit lady that goes around and makes little fairies clean dangerous dragons. Really, Cirno just wanted to enjoy her bath and be clean for dinner tonight.

After a long and wonderful bath, Cirno actually remembered to lock the door after she left. As her dress was stained with mud and…other things…she got dressed into one of the robes already provided in the bath house. While it did have the Hakurei Shrine's mark on it, the material felt like really thin paper and Cirno worried she might rip it if she moved fast. As such, she gently flew from the bathhouse to the shrine while keeping her arms at her sides.

"They're not that thin…" Reimu moaned as she saw the flying statue of Cirno approach the tale.

"Oh, Cirno!" Suika called from the kitchen. "How was the imoni? It looks like you're still alive, so it's not deadly…"

"Uh…" Cirno didn't really get a good taste of the stew, as Kasen took most of it while it was still hot. But hey, might as well steal what Kasen said. With great gusto, Cirno declared. "Not bad! Needs more soy sauce, as I mentioned, clean the vegetables, get some better quality meat, and a great deal of spices!"

"As previously mentioned?" Suika properly questioned.

"I would get better meat." Reimu started as she sat down. "But between the donations, Yukari's weekly allowance, and our guest…we could either have two nights of decent meat, or we could have a full meal."

"Maybe you should get a job." Cirno piped in.

"Oh jeez, you're right." Reimu blankly stated. "I should quit being the shrine maiden and take up a job in the human village."

"Yeah, great idea!"

Suika walked into the dining room with her pot of cream stew, quickly noticing the big bump on Cirno's head and Reimu's arm retracting back under the table. "Well…" Suika jumped into the conservation. "…that's why I'm working on a garden." She set the pot down onto the middle of the table before ducking back into the kitchen to grab the bowls and spoons. "We can use the crops to feed ourselves to save some money while selling the excess to make money!"

"If they're good." Reimu commented on as she looked into the pot. Smelt good at least. "Like what Cirno just said, we got to make sure they're clean before we do anything with them."

"I know not to use soap." Suika told as she returned with the spoons and bowls, handing them off to the dinner guests. "But do I use cold or hot water?"

"Cold!" Cirno chirped as she reached up to the ladle.

"You're just saying that because that's your thing." Reimu retorted.

"Yeah, but it sounds right…" Cirno cut herself off as she realized she was too short sitting down to properly fill her bowl. She got up into the air and managed to fill her bowl without spilling any.

"But hot water kills bacteria, and there's bound to be some in the dirty ground." Reimu pointed out as she stood up to fill her bowl.

"I'll ask someone then." Suika sighed as she took the ladle and filled her bowl before sitting down with the others. "The only person I can think of who would be good at this would be Yuuka…"

"Try Konpaku or Meiling!" Reimu quickly shot out. Even Cirno shivered at the though of even talking with Yuuka. Sure, she wasn't as genocidal as people rumored her to be, but still, you didn't want to even as so much poke her. Even the feller of gods and forces of nature Reimu didn't want to go near Yuuka unless she had to.

The three went silent for a short while as they prayed before digging into Suika's stew. Thankfully, it didn't immediately boil their tongues, melt their teeth, nor cause their stomachs to quake. In fact, it tasted just fine. No real special taste to it, again, the problem being the lack of spices. It cooked just long enough. Not bland, not cold, not foul, not bad. That summed up the stew pretty well. Not bad.

"Thank you Suika." Reimu breathed out as she finished her first spoonful.

"Yeah, I'm becoming a regular housemaker, aren't I?" Suika complemented herself as she ditched the spoon in favor of drinking right of the bowl, like it was a sake sakazuki. After letting out a satisfied sigh and wiping her lips with her arm, she continued with, "I would spice it up more, but we can't really afford the decent spices…or spice plants for that manner."

"It would be nice, but we need to stick with the necessaries." Reimu added. "If Suika's garden brings in more revenue for the Shrine, I'll consider finding a spice plant…but we do have other important things to get first."

"Wolike wat?" Cirno asked as she took in another spoonful.

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Reimu scolded. "For starters? Renovations. The shrine has got lots of holes in it…" Reimu pointed up to the ceiling. Cirno looked up and noticed a fairly big hole in the wooden roof, covered up by a thatch patch. When Cirno looked back to Reimu, she could see a blushing Suika out of the corner of her eye. "…and some of the wood is getting moldy. I've been meaning to replace the floor and put in some new carpeting…" Reimu then stopped, groaned and fell onto her back. "…oh, what's the point? The next time that a god comes to town, the place is going to be in ashes."

"Don't worry!" Suika crawled over and patted Reimu on the forehead. "I'll make sure we will always have plenty of money."

"I love you too." Reimu sobbed as she reached up to hug and kiss her wife.

Speaking of, "Hey, I got another question." Cirno started to inquire. "Why did you two get married?" The married couple broke off the hug and awkwardly stared at their guest. "What? I wasn't there for the wedding, you didn't invite me."

"That's because the only time we talk is to fight each other." Reimu groaned. "And if we were friends back then, you vanished for the entire season of winter to go and hibernate."

"Wait." Cirno raised a finger with a excited look. "Are you saying we're friends now?"

"For the most part." Reimu sighed, not wanting to go on. "At least you're not freeloading like the others…" Reimu turned towards Suika, putting on a pouty face. "…hey, you used to stay here while stealing my sake."

"Okay, so I did." Suika held up her hands in mild protest. "But I made up for it, didn't I?" She cooed as she stroked under Reimu's chin. "Maybe I could make up for it tonight…"

"Not with Cirno around." Reimu shook her head, completely dead-pan. Suika let out a low 'ah' as she retracted her hand. "Anyway…" Reimu turned back to Cirno. "…if you do want to know about why me and Suika got hitched…tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?" Cirno groaned.

"Yes, tomorrow." Reimu repeated. "The next day. 24 hours. 1440 minutes. One moon."

"Argh." Cirno moaned out as she laid her head on the table. "Why…"

"Because…" Reimu yawned. "I'm very tired from today's work, and if I let Suika explain it, it end with everyone sloshed." She got up from the table and stretched out her back. "Thank you for the meal, dear. I'll be turning in now…" Before she opened the shutter to the bedroom, she pointed a finger behind her at Cirno. "And you go to bed early so you can get up early. I'm not going to get you up a second time." She slammed the shutter behind her.

"Oh, yeah." Cirno sighed. "Probably shouldn't make the oni wait."

"Yeah, Yuugi would use you as a baseball bat if you showed up late." Suika commented on. Cirno shivered again as helped herself to more stew. "Well, not bad for the first day, huh?"

"Oh." Cirno snapped her fingers. "I'm going to need two bagged lunches each day."

"Two?" Suika quaked.

"Yeah, Kasen stole half of my lunch." Cirno merely commented on. "And Yuugi…"

"Yeah." Suika got up, her eyes a bit worn out. "I better make two lunches for tomorrow."

"Thanks!" Cirno bowed after getting up. "Well, good night!" She went towards the bedroom door…

"STAY OUT!" Reimu screeched, throwing a book at Cirno's head. Well, at least Cirno went to bed early.


	8. The First Step Is The First Step

Cirno was awoken by midgets dancing on her face.

She gasped for air as she bounded up, making the chibi Suikas fly off. Crawling over to the nearby mirror, Cirno noticed how muddy and bruised her face had become. Groaning, she floated out the open window and towards the bathhouse to wash up. On the way, she noticed that the laundry line had her dress from yesterday drying in between Reimu's and Suika's dresses. Kinda funny to see that while Reimu and Cirno had different outfits, Suika only had one dress. She must really liked that one outfit.

In the bathhouse, Cirno found one of her dresses already neatly folded and ready to used. "Does Suika even need sleep?" Cirno muttered to herself as she splashed herself with water. Once she felt all nice and clean, she hung up her robe, got dressed and headed to the kitchen to get breakfast.

"Good morning." Suika chirped as she heard Cirno open the shutter door.

"Was that necessary?" Cirno questioned. "Sending your minions to stampede on my head?"

"Hey, would you prefer being stomped on by Reimu?" Suika waved her pan over to Cirno before returning it back towards the flame. From the smell alone, Suika is grilling some salmon. A bowl of rice awaited Cirno as her place on the table. "Pepper or curry powder for your salmon?"

"Curry powder." Cirno replied, while looking around. "So, where's Reimu?"

"Out in town." Suika called back. "A order of her tea has come in, and she's doing a few other errands while she's there. " Suika smacked her lips as she gently shook the curry powder shaker over the finished salmon. "Tonight, we're having chicken!" She told as she came over and dropped off the plate of grilled salmon. "I'm going to go find a good recipe for what we got."

"You really are into this whole…thing." Cirno asked, not really sure what word to use.

"Oh yeah!" Suika waved her pan around with a big smile on her face. "I originally thought this whole cooking business was a giant waste of time, just some task designed by the patrichary to keep women in line. Then I realized…there's not much men in Gensokyo. That, and I really do find cooking fun and really helpful to make filling, delicious meals for me and the wife!" Suika's pan waving got to the point where she lost grip and like a bullet, it flew right into Cirno's face. "Oops."

Cirno didn't react to the pan. She just let it fall off her face and to the floor…then she reacted by falling onto her back. "Ow." She bluntly moaned.

After cleaning her face again, Cirno ate on the way to Yuugi's aboveworld place, balancing the two lunch bags in both hands while carrying the salmon in her mouth. They felt lighter than yesterdays lunch, so it made it easy for Cirno to carry both while devouring the last of her curry-powder grilled salmon.

"Oof." Yuugi pinched her nose when Cirno walked through the front door of her shack.. "Curry powder on grilled salmon? Disgusting."

"Better than black pepper." Cirno returned the comment as she set down the lunch bags on the table. "In case you were going to steal my lunch, I had Suika make me a second lunch, just for you."

"I ain't a student, I'm teaching you MORON!" Yuugi proclaimed as she slapped Cirno across the top of her head. "But say thank you to Suika for me." Yuugi sniffed the air and walked over to one of the bags, opening it up. "This one is for me. It's got sake soaked into the food." She closed it and put it on a higher shelf. "Let's get started on your training."

"Wow." Cirno whistled. "Kasen had me do chores all day instead of training me. I'm liking you a bit more."

"Well, I'll gladly take any compliment." Yuugi clapped her hands. "But, remember!" She snapped her dingers with such force, it made Cirno jump. "You aren't paying me in cash or booze, so you got to do a errand for me before I teach you something. But don't worry." She held up a hand to stay Cirno's upcoming angry outburst. "This is the only thing I'm going to ask of you to do today. The other days will be like this, just do one errand and we get straight towards training."

"I agree!" Cirno planted her hands on her sides. "I will perform this task with great gusto and be back before you even get hungry."

"Too late." Yuugi mouthed between bites of her riceball. "Care to rephrase that statement?"

"I'll be back before you finish that lunch!" Cirno corrected herself before she jolted out of the door.

Yuugi took out a deep breath and sat down. She reached across the table for her crossword puzzle and the pen. Yuugi bit the nib of the pen as she worked the possible solution to thirteen down: female ruler. Four words long. Lady or dame? Could khan count? She looked over to the connecting rows. Lady could help answer 4 across needed to activate explosion, detonAtion. But dame could also answer twenty across: heroic, couragEous. She licked her lips and tried to find a different word that could work out for a nearby column or row to help solve the dilemma of thirteen down.

As Yuugi considered why she even bothered with crosswords, Cirno came back and asked, "Wait, I didn't know what I'm doing or where I'm going."

"Of course…" Yuugi breathed out as she put down her crossword and waited for Cirno to come close. "…FOOL!" She smacked Cirno across the top of her head again, making the fairy fly into a nearby wall, imbedding herself halfway through. "Now, I want you to go out and get a package for me in the village at the foot of the mountain. It's at the post office, so go…" Yuugi walked over and placed a foot on Cirno's rear. "…AND GET IT YOU IDIOT!" And with a powerful shove of her foot, Cirno got launched out of the hole and went tumbling down the mountain. She eventually rolled into the village and landed on a stack of hay.

"Dammit." A human farmer grunted as he lifted his pitchfork up and shoved it into the stack just underneath Cirno. "It's that time of year again." He groaned out as he picked up the fairy in the hay and tossed into the nearby river.

"Something's going to blow up." The farmer's friend remarked as he watched the seemingly-unconscious fairy drift away, along with the contaminated hay. "I can feel it."

"It's either going to be the devil's mansion, the shrine, the moon, or somewhere new." The farmer replied.

Cirno, literally out cold, let herself drift around for a bit. The villagers just watched the fairy float away. Some of the kids even threw sticks and some of the bigger kids tossed stones at her. The younger kids armed with boats, both plastic and paper, even raced against her until their mothers told them to pack it in. Finally, Cirno reached the end of the river and her head bounced off the end a few times before she picked herself up and out of the riverbed and onto dry land.

Cirno looked at her dress. Well, at least all of the hay and dirt she got while traveling down had been cleaned off by her now damp dress. Spitting out a pebble, Cirno started to wringed out her dress as she walked around the village. She noticed a sign and strolled over to it to get some directions.

"Oh, of course." Sighed a familiar person well known for sighing a lot. "I get redirected here, and here I find you." Cirno turned to face Reimu, who once more sighed as she noticed Cirno's dress. "I know you doing training, but can you go a day without ruining your dress? There's small and obvious damage and then there's…" Reimu took a second to fully access the damage. "…you falling off a mountain and landing in a river."

"Actually, I fell into a hay stack and then I went into the river." Cirno sheepishly admitted. "But I'm still on a mission." She huffed out. "I got to get to a post office and retrieved a package for Yuugi."

"Ah, good." Reimu pointed behind her. "I'm heading there too. My tea has been rerouted here." As she turned towards her destination, she told, "Come along, Cirno. Don't get lost."

"Ah. Cirno let out as she followed shortly behind Reimu. At least the fresh spring air would allow Cirno's dress to dry. Now that her brain was active, Cirno decided to take in the sight of the mountain-base village. Looked to be dirtier than the average human village, thanks to the falling dirt and rocks coming from the mountain. But the people carried on with their lives and work like any normal human village. Cirno noticed some of the kids from before, the ones that raced their boats, walking with their mothers on their way wherever they were meant to be going. What caught Cirno's attention was how they walked together. Hand-in-hand, some of them swinging around or just simply holding hands.

"Hey, Reimu?" Cirno called out to the shrine-maiden.

"Yeah?"

"Can we hold hands?"

"Cirno." Reimu stopped and breathed out a annoyed breath. "I believe I have mentioned that you are older than me by several centuries. You don't need me to hold your hand."

"But it would be nice." Cirno tugged on Reimu's dress to get her attention. Once Reimu actually turned to face her, Cirno pointed over to a laughing kid swinging his arm with his mom. "Can you at least humor me?"

"Not really." Reimu blankly stated. "People can tell you're a youkai…" Reimu motioned with both of her hands six pillars all directions of the compass save for north and south, hinting towards Cirno's noticeable wings of ice. "…and you aren't paying me enough to make up for the loss of human donators." Reimu's face squirmed a bit. She could just feel that a human worshipper decided to not go to her shrine today.

"Please?"

"Seriously, no. You're old enough to be my grandmother…and…" Reimu let out a little giggle at the thought she just had. "…she could probably kick your ass…"

"Reimu?" Cirno pleaded. "I promise you…I'll do more around the shrine."

"Suika pretty much does most of the work already…" Reimu groaned. "…but she shouldn't do all of the chores on her own. You could help with laundry, what with you constantly ruining your dresses. And cleaning up after meals, that too." Reimu tilted her head. "But do you really want to be treated like a little kid?"

"I don't mind." Cirno chirped up, extending her hand outward.

Reimu sighed deeply, but she did put on a decent smile as she gingerly clutched Cirno's hand. She expected it to be frozen cold, but it felt nice and cool, like the perfect pillow. With Cirno giggling like a happy kindergartener, the two walked hand-in-hand towards the post office. Some of the humans did point towards the two and make varying comments about them. Some of the older and more uglier humans, ugly in mind, made some mean comments regarding the shrine maiden being someone of low moral structure. Some of the kids insulted Cirno, calling her a freak.

But despite her preference to keep the public opinion on her as pro-human and anti-youkai, Reimu ignored the comments around her and lead her guest into the post office. While Cirno expected for the hand-holding to end in a forceful yank away, Reimu gently broke it.

"Curry powder on salmon?" Reimu asked before approaching the main counter.

"Yeah."

"Good choice." Reimu rang the bell and summoned the baggy-eyed clerk. He recognized the familiar miko and went to grab her package.

"Here's your tea." The clerk grunted as he dropped the box onto the counter. "Can you even carry it?" Reimu didn't even respond to that with a sigh, she picked it up without any problems. To further mock the weasly post office worker, she gently tossed her package up and let it fall back into her hand. With a snarky smile, she turned and left the office with a short farewell to Cirno. "I don't believe we have anything for you…"

"I'm here to pick up a package for a Yuugi." Cirno exclaimed, not really recalling Yuugi's last name.

"Yuugi…what?" The clerk asked.

"You know, Yuugi." Cirno shrugged.

"And there just happens to be only one Yuugi in Gensokyo, and who happens to have a package in this very post office?"

"Yes."

"Okay." The clerk shrugged as he turned around to look into the pile of packages. "Right. I'll look for the package for Yuugi. Just plain old Yuugi, the only Yuugi in the entire region, let alone the entire town…oh." The clerk sighed. "Here's the only package labeled for a Yuugi Hoshiguma…"

"That sounds right." Cirno nodded her head.

"I loathe fairies." The clerk muttered under his breath. After a sharp intake of breath, the clerk lifted the package up. His knees nearly buckled under the weight of the object, whatever it is. Wheezing and huffing like mad, but thanks to the human spirit, the clerk was able to get the package on the table. "Okay, here you go."

"No warning?" Cirno gasped at the size of the package. The thing stood taller and wider than her!

"You're a youkai, you can make it." The clerk dejected as he walked away. "Office's closed, I'm going on break."

True, being a youkai did give Cirno some abilities. But super-strength, telekinesis, or teleportation didn't come in the package…not the one on the counter, mind you. Freezing things, flight, and infinite respawning were her things, and using the former would only serve to make the trip _longer_. And Reimu had already left town by now, and it was doubtful that someone that Cirno knew would come by and offer her help.

Cirno flew above the counter and package. She took a series of deep breaths as she slowly grabbed ahold of the thick packing ribbon. The good news is that she could lift the package up and off the counter. But that became bad news when she realized that could lift the incredibly heavy and cumbersome package up and off the counter, therefore she could carry to Yuugi place. At the pace of a boulder being pushed by a gentle breeze up-mountain.

Originally, Cirno assumed that the trip would only take a hour tops, get the package and get back. And now, at the rate of her slowly fluttering towards the mountain path while almost dragging the package along, a hour tops would get her to the entrance to the mountain path. Then, oh let's be fair here and say there won't be much traffic and the weather would be fair, about…four hours to make it back to Yuugi's house?

None of the humans provided any support, let alone moral support. At least they didn't go to the far end of the spectrum and make her journey longer. Cirno grunted, heaved, moaned, groaned, belly-ached all the way to the entrance to the mountain path, dropping the package down onto the ground. Feeling something like a heart attack coming on, Cirno looked up.

Scratch that. Cirno would be lucky to be back to the shrine by lunch tomorrow. Cirno let out a tiresome cry of anguish as the task before came above her like a tsunami overshadowing a entire island.

As she laid down on the package, she felt a small, elevated bump on her back. Cirno got up and noticed a letter with stationary the same color and texture as the package. Perplexed, she removed the letter and turned it around. It was addressed to her! Cirno ripped open the envelope and retrieved the letter.

 _Hey Cirno,_

 _If you're reading this, congrats! You found my secret letter. I wasn't going to tell you the rub until you finished this task, but I decided to play nice and had this letter delivered alongside the package. I did order this the moment I got home after we made our arrangement._

 _THIS is your training! Lifting a large package and carrying it up a mountain! Endurance training, remember?_

 _See you at my vacation home,_

 _Yuugi._

The oni could hear the little fairy groan all the way up the mountain. Ah, she found the rub!

Cirno wanted to do two things now. First, freeze and then shatter the package. Second, do the same to the oni. But her eyes scrolled down the letter to beneath Yuugi's signature.

 _P.S. I will make you pay for any damage done to my package…and if it doesn't appear at my doorstep at all._

 _P.S.S. Take all the time you want. :_

Cirno took deep breaths. The only way to do it is to do it. No way around it. With what strength she had within her, she lifted the package and flew up the mountain path. Thankfully, the weather remained nice and the traffic was sparse enough for Cirno to continue on her way. Her arms were sore, her fingers bruised and gaining welts, and her body's upper half felt ready to rip clean off her lower half.

But she kept pushing onward and upward, taking a occasional break along the way to sit the package down and rest. A few people passed by her, either not saying anything or make idle-chit-chat. At some places, Cirno even got some free samples of shaved ice. That really hit the spot, and relaxed her muscles.

And soon, her muscles started to hurt less. While her fingers still felt like they were stretched by leather straps on a torture rack, she could lift the package easier now and higher up, allowing her to move faster up the mountain. Cirno's inner thoughs went away from constant complaining to more or less, am I done yet?

It didn't take as long as she expected, but three hours later, she dumped the package on the table in Yuugi's table. "There." Cirno gasped as she fell onto the floor, face-first. She didn't stir much. "I'm done." She moaned all muffled from her lips pressed against the floor. "Some training."

"Let's see yer guns." Yuugi asked as she sat down a glass of non-alcohol grape juice on the table. Cirno heard the familiar clatter of glass gently landing on a wooden table and searched with her hand to find the glass. She did tilt her head to make sure she retrieved the glass and drink it.

"Guns?" Cirno coughed as she drank her juice a bit too fast.

"Yer muscles." Yuugi pointed with her right hand at her left arm. "Show me the results of your training."

Cirno sighed. Her whole body felt more sore than satisfied. "Okay." Cirno breathed out of her nose as she rolled up her sleeves and flexed. Felt a lot tighter than before. Looking over, she noticed she had gained a noticeable bicep. A nice little bump on her arm! Cirno happily gasped as she checked out her other arm. The same bump. "Check it out!" She turned towards Yuugi. The oni had already rolled up one sleeve to reveal her own gun. While Cirno had her Mauser C96, Yuugi's arms behold a 90s action hero's preferred combo of a chain gun and double-shotgun rigged together.

"You got a long path ahead of you." Yuugi chuckled as she lightly punched the disappointed Cirno on the shoulder. "My training is going to make you sweat, bleed, crap your pants…"

"Wait, what…"

"…and generally make you wish you staid in bed that day." She put some more force into slapping Cirno on the back, causing Cirno to spit out her second swig of her juice. "But in the end, your body will thank you for turning it into a temple of awesome power."

"Yuugi."

"Yes, dear student?"

"I can't move my body."

"Eh, you'll be fine."

"No, really, I can't honestly move. And I got to get home before dinner…"

"And so you can continue to spread the disease known as curry powder on salmon? No way…"


	9. How Me And Your Mother Got Together

So Suika had some spare lemons…

"Why do you have some many lemons?" Cirno asked as she spotted the overfilled cabinet of lemons in the kitchen of the shrine.

Reimu sighed as she squeezed Suika's lips shut. "She thought she could grow lemons in her garden. The only problem is…"

"Iwa whaught…" Suika tried to start explaining herself, only to stop herself when she couldn't understand what she was saying.

"She thought the whole fruit, and not the seeds, had to be planted into the ground to grow." Reimu bounced a single lemon in her hand. "And once she told me a week later, I made another discovery that Suika didn't notice." She let go of Suika's mouth to point to the lemon. "They're seedless. AKA, worthless."

"Still, they make good lemonade." Suika meekly commented.

"And hopefully make good chicken." Reimu stated as she looked over to the carefully-wrapped full chicken.

So, anyway, Suika had some spare lemons, a half-full shaker of black pepper, a full jar of olive oil that was bought last year, a half-empty shaker of salt, and a untouched jar of minced garlic. Remembering a old recipe that she saw in a cookbook she apparently bought while drunk, Suika got a bowl, squeezed two lemons dry, poured a quarter of olive oil and the two shakers, and…with a heavy shaking hand…gently shook in a few pinches of the minces. And once Reimu walked in with the chicken, that too got dunked in…staining the wooden counter with the marinade.

Six hours later, once Cirno dive-bombed into the shrine and recovered enough to move her eyelids, Suika delivered half of the chicken onto the dinner table. The other half would remain in the marinade until tomorrow night, to let out the juices soak in…and to save money. After prayers, they delved in and enjoyed some lightly-sour chicken.

Then Reimu started on her story. "Suika had come from her home in Bhava-Agra to visit me…and to mooch on the booze I was keeping for New Years. That was in…November I believe? You were still awake?" Reimu pointed over to Cirno in question. She nodded. "Okay, so she came over and finished off a entire barrel of the good stuff before admitting…a few interesting things."

"Not many people like me up there." Suika pointed up to the roof and presumably the heavens, as if her old home just happened be right above the shrine. "So I figured it was high time to leave a bit and let the air clear before going back to the endless feast."

"Yeah…" Reimu's usual annoyed look faded into a shy smile, complete with a blush. "As she laid out drunk on my floor, she started to mutter how she would like to take me back to Bhava-Agra…and I might I add…she sounded like I didn't have a choice in the manner."

"In my defense…" Suika held up a fist to cough and mutter her speech. "…oni tradition is that we take our mate up to the living place of the dominant one in the relationship…"

"Which is why you're here at the shrine." Cirno pointed out. Reimu let out a big and a triumphant 'HA' as Suika pouted her lips and looked the other way.

After getting a good laugh out of her system, Reimu continued. "I admit, I took the whole thing in stride at the time. I hear this stuff all the time, from Remilia, Yukari, Sanae…pretty much any female in Gensokyo really." Reimu took a pause to take a sip from her favorite cup of tea. "At the least…I could say Suika had a deeper interest in me than what most of the other pursuers were interested in…" Reimu raised her arms above her head, to reveal her godlike armpits. And Cirno wondered what exactly the other flames were interested in.

"…of course, there's always the fact that I'm usually lonely here at the shrine." Reimu admitted. "Yes, I do get annoyed whenever someone comes by just to mooch off me and take up room…but it's always good to have company. Even more so when there hasn't been a incident for a while, and Marisa has vanished…"

"The witch disappeared?" Cirno asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. I even checked her home and asked around in a few of her usual places that she likes to steal from, but nobody hasn't seen her." Reimu breathed out of her nose in annoyance. "She vanished right after my marriage to Suika…and she didn't say anything about going anywhere, actually her last words to me before she went away were, "I need to get going mate, I got a potion brewing at home. Good luck and all that, watch your eyes in bed." I hope that the potion isn't responsible for what happened to her."

"Knowing how things work around here, she'll probably turn up." Suika positively affirmed with a gentle pat on the back to Reimu. "And then you will smack her in the back of her head."

"Even more so if she goes for the donation box." Reimu let out a little laugh. "Back to the story. Again, I'm lonely. Another thing is that some of the monks and other shrine maidens have been pressuring me to be wed to someone…sure, they wanted me to marry a decent human male…but c'mon." Reimu smirked. "Everyone in Gensokyo is gay…or at least bi. I'm pretty sure Marisa is bi, but knowing her? She's more interested in your materials."

"You're getting sidetracked way too easily." Cirno bluntly told.

"Yeah, yeah." Reimu rolled her head. "So, Suika drunkly admitted her love for me, with such prose like 'cute butterfly face', 'rose-smelling goddess', and my favorite one, 'best drinking buddy.'" Suika looked away in slight embarrassment. "While Suika is considered to be more cute than beautiful, she's a lot more nicer and helpful than the other women in my life."

"And in the morning after…" Suika started up with a quip, only to back down after a quick glare by Reimu.

"And so, in the next morning, I woke Suika up and gave her a cup of tea to remedy her headache." Suika stared into her cup of tea, as if she could see the past in the shimmering tea. "Once she regained her senses, I asked her a few questions regarding her feelings about me. Being a lucid state, she answered honestly. And…I was impressed with what she said." Suika nervously laughed. "So I asked her…to stay around for a bit. See if it would work out, being a couple and all."

"I actually proposed to you on the spot." Suika reminded her.

"True, but I just wasn't going to get wed right away, former houseguest or not." Reimu breathed out.

"I did pretty well considering." Suika praised herself.

"Okay, sure." Reimu waved her hand around in a circle. "But she more than proved herself to me…she actually made it appealing to be married to her. So, when she proposed for the…" Reimu stuck out her tongue and lightly bit down on it. Suika quickly filled by mouthing out the number twenty-four. "…really? You sure that's the correct number?" Suika weakly nodded as to admit the horrifying truth of her old obsession. "…twenty-fourth time…I caved in and agreed."

"You were crying." Suika laid her head on Reimu's shoulder. "You were crying and I had to ask you again if you said 'yes'…"

"I did." Reimu gently sighed. "So we arranged for the wedding. Middle of February, while the snow was still around but the ice was thin. We dressed in traditional robes and invited all our friends…or rather, we woke up one morning and found that Yukari had already set everything up for us, including bringing in our friends." Reimu looked behind her for a quick second. "…oh, yeah…I haven't seen or heard from Yukari or even from another member of the Yakumo family in a while…" Reimu huffed. "The more I think about it, the more it sounds like there's a incident brewing…"

"Please continue to the more interesting story." Cirno interrupted.

"Alright, alright." Reimu shook her head. "So, yeah. Woke up one morning and found a entire wedding for us was happening around us. Me and Suika were a bit off-put by this, but seeing how we didn't have to pay for anything…we went along with it." Reimu shrugged.

"But in all honesty…" Reimu sighed, sounding more honest and heartful than before. "…that day is by far my most happiest day in my entire life. All my friends and even those who don't really like me were actually honesty nice and happy for me and Suika. True, the whole thing was free with no strings and we got gifts on top of everything…but those were all the optional toppings to the giant cake that was our wedding. Suika and I…walked hand-in-hand to the priest…received our blessing…and sealed it all with a nice kiss."

Suika didn't add in some comment about the wedding, not even a mention towards the massive drinking feast that occurred after the knot got tied. She just wrapped herself around her true love and snuggled her face against Reimu's cheek.

Cirno figured it was good time to go to bed. Her body smarted like hell…and by the looks of things, the table would be cleared off a bit earlier than usual. While Reimu and Suika got into it, Cirno turned in for the night. At least the ruckus started long after she went into a deep sleep.


	10. Introduction To Second Main Character

As this is the tenth chapter, I figured it's time to introduce the second title character. About time, right?

Springtime had came to Hakugyokurou, leading to Youmu to breathe out easily. She could return to gardening once more, and therefore get some space away from Lady Yuyuko. While she did remain loyal to her lady, her antics could really drive someone mad. A entire winter cooped up with a hungry and overly-jovial ghost lead to one too many headaches.

But before she got started on tending to the flowers, Youmu decided to go and visit a few towns to get some such-needed supplies, for both the gardens as well as the fridge. Some new flowers to brighten the fields, some crops that go well in the garden and in the fridge, and several orders of all of the food she and Lady Yuyuko ate. Youmu sighed as she dug out the necessary payment for the food; how does a ghost eat so much?

While she was in town, she picked up on…some interesting rumors. While most of the humans and the youkai were more interested in the various disappearances of certain figures, what Youmu held onto the most were the rumor involving her mistress being involved with a certain fairy…despite the fact that her mistress had only had a few scattered encounters with said fairy and Yuyuko spent all winter, save for the wedding of a good friend, cooped up in her home.

Once Youmu returned home, she dropped off the bags and approached Lady Yuyuko, currently nibbling on a apple. "Ah, Youmu. How was the outside world? Everyone and everything we know and love still around?"

"Yes." Youmu gulped after swallowing another one of Lady Yuyuko's morbid jokes. "But there's this rumor I need to tell you about…"

"I swear, I didn't sneak out and commit any heinous acts…"

"Lady, it seems as if you have a new suitor." Youmu interrupted with a sigh.

"A suitor?" Yuyuko held up her fan up to her lips. "For little old me? Interesting…tell me, are you jealous, Youmu."

"No." Youmu quaked. "Anyway, it seems as if the little ice fairy Cirno wishes to gain your hand." Yuyuko actually went a little quiet and started to fan herself. "Yes, it sounds as if the 'strongest' is wanting to marry you." Yuyuko didn't respond right away, not with a quip or another question. So Youmu continued. "And apparently, she's serious about this. She's taken up lodging at the Hakurei Shrine and is taken training from the mountain hermit and the tall oni…"

"And yet she hasn't come to me with a wedding proposition?" Yuyuko asked in her honest tone. "There hasn't been any suitors to Hakugyokurou ever. She'll be the first…and mostly likely be the one who will earn my hand…"

"Seriously!" Youmu shouted out loud, making Yuyuko jump. "I mean…Lady Yuyuko, Cirno is a mere fairy. They're pests, nothing more. As a goddess, you should look for someone of equal or greater power to live with…"

"Perhaps Cirno will someone I actually love instead of someone I fear." Yuyuko sighed before standing up. "Perhaps I should pay Ms. Cirno a visit at the Hakurei Shrine. See if she really wants to go forward with the marriage…"

"Lady Yuyuko!" Youmu shouted, stepping up to confront Yuyuko. "Cirno might be twice older than the shrine maiden, but she acts like a child. If you seek marriage with her, it would more akin to a parent and child rather than two lovers. You're going to get tired of it real fast…"

"Or perhaps I should go and form my own opinon on Cirno myself." Yuyuko continued to fan herself as she went inside her home. "Youmu. Prepare a small gift basket of flowers and treats, but mostly treats, for the Hakurei Shrine. We shall make a visit tomorrow evening." Youmu opened her mouth, but Yuyuko filled in the gap. "We will go together, Youmu. As you stated, this is a serious matter, and we shall address it in a serious manner."

Youmu stood there with her mouth hanging open for a bit. She expected Yuyuko to laugh off the stupid rumor or make a joke at Cirno's expense. The last thing she expected were Yuyuko to take the whole thing seriously and actually inquire into it. Youmu's ajar jaw quivered in horrifying thought of a future with Cirno as her second master. Mornings of waking up to find that Cirno had frozen her garden. Afternoons of tending to both her childish masters. And praying to some other god or goddess in the evening so she can go to bed and stay asleep while Cirno and Yuyuko do whatever they do in the evenings.

The only way through it was to go straight forward. Youmu prayed to whoever was listening…please have Cirno suffer some accident or something to make her as unappealing as possible to Yuyuko soon.


	11. No Montage For The Fairy

Finally. Cirno shouted in her head as she woke up. Today is the day where Kasen will finally teach herself something. It could be how to make a birdhouse for sparrows for all she knew…and cared! Cirno jumped out of bed with a great big smile on her face and tore throughout the shrine to get ready.

As Suika got a early start tending to the garden, Reimu took care of breakfast. While not as interesting as what Suika would do, a fried egg on a bowl of white rice would give the little fairy enough energy to plow ahead all day long. But really, it looks like she already had plenty of energy as she grabbed her chopsticks and deftly torn up the bowl's contents. Reimu stood there watching Cirno just destroy her breakfast like a giant stampeding through a small forest.

"ThanksforthemealbyeReimu!" Cirno quickly bowed before darting outside with her lunch and up to the mountains.

Suika watched from the garden as Cirno blasted through the sky with great force upwards and outwards. "Wow." Suika breathed out as she leaned on her hoe. "I recall, back in my day at least, that kids used to go that fast AWAY from school."

"Indeed." Reimu called out from inside the house. "Oh, Suika? Can you come inside for a second? I need you to look at something." Suika voiced out a quick 'coming' before throwing the hoe down and rushing inside. What could the problem be? A new hole had appeared in the floor or roof, a pipe had a leak, the brick-oven had a few bricks loose? But as Suika kicked off her shoes and headed inside, she felt nothing to be off. No new holes creating a draft, no leaky pipes causing noises, and she couldn't feel that the brick-oven had any problems. "In the bedroom." Reimu called out.

So Suika opened the shutter to the bedroom…and blushed like her head was going to pop like a cherry.

"Yeah, there's a bit of a draft in here." Reimu sighed as she tossed aside her now-useless clothes. "Can you come in here and keep me warm while the child's away."

It took Suika exactly two seconds to tear off her clothes and join her wife.

Kasen observed Cirno from her usual sitting place on the fence. Looks like Yuugi's training stuck with her. Kasen originally thought that the feed bags would be bit too much for the little fairy to handle with her usual gutsy affair, but she carried them a clear centimeter off the ground and to the proper bowl.

Cirno really wanted to get to the training part. Her mind raced alongside her wings as she darted between the storage shed and the animal's bowls. Go to the shed, grab the bag of feed, carry it over to the proper animal's bowl, open the bag by the flap, pour out enough kibble to fill the bowl, return the bag back to the shed, and repeat until all the bowls were full. While the animals and the bowls were numerous, Cirno was able to finish this chore in a hour's time. Kasen figured that it would take her at least three hours.

But then came a actual challenge. The bathing of the dragon's back. Now, Koutei did understand that Cirno made a mistake; she didn't know and therefore wasn't really at fault. But that didn't stop Koutei from being angry. Kasen tossed the bucket of soapy water and the mop over to Cirno before ducking behind a conveniently placed a iron shield. Cirno took a gulp but stepped forward into the musty cave.

Koutei let out a low growl as he spotted the fairy standing before him. Her entire body shook like she was going to fall apart. But with careful steps, Cirno stepped forward with bucket and mop in hand before easily floating up onto the back of Koutei. Koutei didn't relax up any bit once Cirno touched down and dropped the items softly on his back. He tensed up more once he could feel the mop brush against his back.

Although, he did wish that the fairy would push the broom instead of shifting it every so slightly ever so often. At this rate, Cirno would end up repeating her mistake from last time. And Koutei REALLY didn't like cold water.

Going by the dragon's movements, he seemed to be comfortable with how she was washing his back. So Cirno picked up the pace, actually scrubbing away at the compacted grime built into the scales. It sounded like Koutei got comfy; his breathing became easier and sounded as if he were about to drift off into slumber.

But Cirno's nerves were shot. As soon as the dragon went still and quiet, she retrieved her bucket and gently floated away from the dragon, heading out of the cave and setting the tools aside. Kasen jumped off the fence and clapped while approaching the shivering statue of Cirno. "Excellent." Kasne congratulated. "You managed to survive another day with Koutei. You lasted longer than my last assistant."

"What happened to her?" Cirno asked.

"She got eaten." Kasen merely replied as Cirno continued to shake even more violently, almost to the point where she would bore into the ground. Kasen sighed and added, "By overwhelming debt from her gambling addiction." Cirno sighed. "So she got burned." Cirno yelped. Kasen shook her head and again added in, "By her credit union. She had to leave town before she got eaten." Cirno jumped. "By her debt collectors! Good god…"

"Maybe we should move on to the training part." Cirno recommended as she managed to regain control of her legs.

"I promised you I would train you, and train you I shall." Kasen nodded as she stretched her left arm to the other side of the body. "Perhaps you should start some stretches. Warm up a bit and we'll do some friendly sparing so I can measure where we need…"

"I'm ready to go!" Cirno proudly declared as she placed her hands on her hips and put on a confident smile. Kasen stopped mid-stretch and stared at Cirno with a look that asked 'are you certain you want to do this?' Cirno caught on and shot back with, "I'm ready to become strong!"

Kasen sighed. "It seems it will be years…maybe even millenniums…before you will actually learn something." She shook her head, but she did bend her knees and her elbows into a fighting stance. "But maybe through a little physical coercion could I get you to open up…"

"Let's go!" Cirno shouted as she quickly unleashed several icicles straight towards Kasen. The monk got caught a bit off guard and barely got out of the way in time. Cirno capitalized on this and sent more icicles not only at Kasen, but also at two different angles to try and catch her there. Kasen managed to pull off a excellent dodge by doing the one thing that most people seem to forget they could: fly up into the air. Cirno chased after her target with more icicles sent her way.

"This is sparing!" Kasen grunted as she powered up a rainbow-glowing orb. "Not actual combat!" With a silent cry of her spellcard, Kasen tossed the orb in a central area in the fight. Cirno kept her distance and continued to fire more icicles. The orb exploded into a shimmering vortex with three smaller orbs rotating around it. Cirno felt that the vortex looked harmless but looked to apart of something bigger. Needing to close the gap, she dashed forward with more icicles flying around her.

Kasen sighed before whistling out for her eagle, Kume. The eagle divebombed into the vortex and caused one of the orbs to explode, sending out several good-sized bullets towards the fairy. Cirno gulped and focused on weaving through the path before charging once more towards the hermit to impale her on a sharp icicle.

But she forgot about the eagle.

"HALP!" Cirno cried out as Kume dug his left set talons into Cirno's dress and the other set lightly around her waist to keep her down. Kume hovered in the air while carrying the little fairy around like how a little spoiled girl would carry her doll. "HALP!" Cirno screeched out as she flailed against the bird's mighty grasp. "HE'S GOING TO DROP ME LIKE A COCONUT!"

"You can fly." Kasen reminded as she sat down in mid-air with a annoyed look. "And we're high up." She looked down and figured that they had gone up at least two-hundred feet. Kume could drop Cirno and she would have at least…one-hundred and ninety feet to recover? Kasen did another quick estimate, adding in the factor of Cirno's stupidity. Okay, if Kume did drop Cirno and she would fall straight down…Cirno would at least have a hundred and eighty feet to recover. Give or take a hundred and seventy feet. "Release her Kume." Kasen then ordered, allowing Cirno to float freely.

"It's not over yet!" Cirno held up a spellcard. "Freeze Sign!"

"Blah." Kasen remarked as she showed up right in Cirno's face with her hand outstretched. A burning flat palm pierced right through Cirno's cheek. The rest of time seemed to slow down as the Kasen pressed hard against the fairy's face, seemingly causing her entire face to fold onto itself and ripple. Cirno's body followed the movement of her head as they spun around before the momentum carried her all the way down that two hundred feet where she promptly crashed into the ground and got buried halfway.

Kasen stopped before going down to get Cirno. "Did I just say blah?" She wondered out loud. She took a moment to collect herself before going and digging Cirno out of her hole in the ground with a mighty heave. It appears that the fairy obtained no real damage, but her mouth had been filled with rocks and gravel. "That was short, but I believe I have a good estimation of where you stand."

"I'm not standing." Cirno groaned as she laid, all crumpled up in a heap.

"You're not that strong." Kasen sighed as she sat down next to the trembling mess of a fairy. "While your ability to freeze could be very versatile against a great deal of enemies…you refuse to use it to the maximum effect. With the proper application of your power, you could honestly take on and defeat a great deal of goddesses with ease." She tapped on her chin. "You could easily trap Yukari Yakumo using her own gaps against her."

"Bbwagh." Cirno mouthed out. "Why are you so mean…"

"You attacked me when I just wanted to train." Kasen tapped Cirno on the forehead. "If anything, I should be the one using that schoolyard comeback." She shook her head. "You can go home early today." She patted Cirno on the back. "Next time…we'll do some stretching."

"Yeah, sure." Cirno groaned as she wobblingly got back up. "Stretch me out like taffy and serve me over a fire."

Kasen shook her head as she watched the dazed fairy fly sideways away to home. The monk wondered if perhaps a crowbar was needed to keep Cirno in line. Or something involving fire. Perhaps Koutei would be interested in leaving his cave to help out?

Matters for another day. Kasen turned around and noticed that Cirno had left behind her lunch on the fence. She considered for a second actually going after Cirno, but she got interested and looked inside. Ooh…dorayaki. Kasen licked her lips as she hugged her bag close. Well, Cirno did owe her…


	12. A Happy Day

Something felt different once Cirno returned to the Hakurei Shrine. Sure, Cirno's head still rang from the beatdown she got from Kasen, but even in her deluded state, she could feel something to be off from the norm.

The place looked presentable.

The trees had been trimmed down, and nicely even all over, and their fallen leaves collected into bags that were waiting in a corner to be dumped off later. The land itself also got a nice cut, and the shavings were also collected into bags. All the buildings on the ground looked to have been given a nice bath and given a nice sheen when the sun shone down. Even the air had a nice smell lingering around: a slight hint of jasmine. Cirno felt like she stepped into a different dimension, one where the Hakurei Shrine actually had constant donators and the shrine maiden weren't a lazy, greedy ass.

Speaking of the ass…Cirno blushed as she spotted Reimu near the entrance to the shrine. The shrine maiden was actually putting some real effort into sweeping; like she actually wanted to clean the place up instead of moving the dust around. But while the grounds were quite nice and well-dressed…Reimu wasn't. Her outfit barely hung on her. And going by a quick look towards her shoulders and her plumber's crack (Nice) she had forgotten a crucial aspect of everyone's clothing.

"Uhh…hi?" Cirno greeted with a curious finger resting on her cheek. "Did something…interesting happened while I was gone?"

"Oh?" Reimu pleasantly sighed out. "Oh, it's nothing. Hey…" She pleasantly stated as she leaned on her broom. "You sure you want Yuyuko? I think Yuugi would be a better choice. You know…" Reimu made a few curving motions towards her chest. "…sure, Suika doesn't got that, but man…onis in bed…" Reimu drooled out.

"Okay." Cirno blanked out. "But I'm sticking with Yuyuko."

"Eh, suit yourself." Reimu shrugged. "You don't know what you're missing out on." She went back to her job of seemingly mindlessly sweeping while Cirno went past her to go inside the shrine.

But the weirdness of overly-happy messy dressed people continued inside. While Suika spent most of her time drunk, she didn't act like a total snob, even more so once she married Reimu and lived full-time at the shrine. Now, it looked like the clothes wanted to escape. Might as well be wearing a kimono much like her old pal Yuuka. Suika was currently working on tonight's meal; more salmon by the looks of it. But the smell of jasmine came on stronger…jasmine rice then?"

"Oh hello dear daughter…" Suika cooed. "How was school?"

"The teacher beat me up…and I'm pretty sure I left my lunch behind." Cirno stated, remembering she had forgotten her lunch back at Kasen's dojo. "But other than that, I'm fine."

"Great ~"

"What did you do two?" Cirno asked, furrowing her brow in mild anger and annoying. "You're both so spacey…"

"When you get married, you're going to be just as spacey as us…"

"I hope not." Cirno lifted her nose and sniffed. "More salmon and…I'm guessing some jasmine rice?"

"Bingo!" Suika 'booped' Cirno on the nose. Cirno reeled back and held her nose with both hands out of embarrassment. "Spent a bit more for the stuff, but me and Reimu both believe we deserve something special today." She breathed out a very satisfied air with her hands on her hips.

"The two of you are the weirdest people in the entire land." Cirno shook her head as sat down at the table.

Suika turned her head at this. "It's not time for dinner yet. Why don't you go outside and play?"

"…with what? The bags of leaves?"

"Ah, go and help Reimu then." Suika gently nudged Cirno to head outside. The little fairy took the hint and went back the way she came. She found Reimu still going at the sweeping game strong. The way she powered through the dust of the dust, you thought she were practicing for a curling match.

"Hey, need any help?" Cirno asked as she approached the way too interested Reimu.

"Yeah, sure!" Reimu tossed her broom up into the air, raced over to the side of the shrine and grabbed a squirt bottle of cleaning fluid and a washcloth, and returned to Cirno's side to grab the broom before it landed on the ground. "Could you do me a favor and go wash the top of the gate? I completely forgot to do so earlier."

"Okay…" Cirno sighed. Two days in a row of waking up, grabbing a quick meal to eat, going to school, coming home, eating dinner and going to bed. And now she had to do chores? Ugh.

"Thanks dear." Reimu leaned in and kissed Cirno on the forehead. Again, Cirno reeled back. When did everyone get so touchy-feely around here? Wiping her head clean of the kiss with a spare hand, she took the cleaning materials and flew to the top of the shrine gate.

Cirno shook her head as she squirted away and rubbed down on top of the wooden arch. Okay, she did know she had to help around the shrine as part of her keep, but could Reimu be less creepy about it? Geez! Cirno sighed as she got down on her knees and scrubbed against the thick wooden surface. Just touching it made her skin crawl. When the day comes when she and Yuyuko are together…

…which came today as soon as Cirno looked up from her duty, having heard some footsteps. There laid the ghost lady and her bodyguard, looking up at the gate having noticed the bright blue fairy standing on top of the solid red gate. Youmu had a eyebrow raised in question while Yuyuko had a nice smile on her face.

Up to this point, Cirno had been going by a fuzzy memory of Yuyuko as part of her quest. Just enough to recall the basic features and such. And there Yuyuko stood, looking up and smiling at her. Cirno just sat there, lost for words.

Never did she expect Yuyuko to exceed her expectations. There were not a single thing wrong about her in the young fairy's eyes. Her dimples, her pudge…for whatever reason that Cirno never once considered, she found that to rather attractive. Cirno almost wanted to jump down and caress her…

"Hello?" Youmu shouted. "Is Ms. Hakurei in? Or is it Ms. Ibuki now? Regardless of her name, is the shrine maiden in?"

"Oh." Cirno blinked a few times to bring herself back to reality. "Yes. She's sweeping over there." Cirno pointed behind her towards the shrine itself. Yomu thanked with a shrug of her head before moving on her way. Yuyuko stayed behind, still smiling at Cirno.

"You must be Cirno." Yuyuko called out.

"Uhh, yes." Cirno muttered out.

Somehow, Yuyuko overheard that and replied with, "It's been a while. I'm Yuyuko Saigyouji. I heard you want to court me."

"…yes?"

"We brought a gift basket of food." Yuyuko pointed ahead to Youmu. "We can have dinner together, talk with each other." She motioned over to the shrine. "Shall we go, or do you…"

"I'm done, yeah, yeah." Cirno stammered as she jumped off the gate and hovered in the air. "Let's go…?"

"Sure!" Yuyuko chirped as she bounded up the steps. A very nervous Cirno audibly swallowed as she followed Yuyuko. Up ahead, Cirno could see Youmu talking with Reimu, still sweeping away.

"Ms. Shrine Maiden!" Youmu gasped as she spotted Reimu's shabbily dress-code. "Your outfit…have you fallen into the lifestyle of a street-walker?"

It took only a second for the new happy Reimu to turn back into the perpetual groaner Reimu. Then it took another second to destroy Youmu's face. At the very least, the grounds were still clean even after Youmu's beatdown.


	13. Our First Date

For once in her life, Cirno had no idea of what to do.

She had at least a small inkling of a idea of how to start. She took a bath, put on her nicest and cleanest dress, properly cleaned her teeth (With floss) and helped arrange the table for dinner. But once everyone sat down and performed prayer, she buttoned her lip and broke out into a cold sweat. After that, she slowly and quite nervously started dinner.

Sitting next to her were her 'parents' Reimu and Suika, currently enjoying the prepared meal of grilled salmon and jasmine rice as well as the expensive nuts and fresh berries that were brought over by the guests Yuyuko and Youmu, who sat across the table from the three. Youmu spent more time tending to the crater in her head that Reimu bored than eating. And Yuyuko, the infamous glutton?

She actually took her time eating. She held only one utensil at a time, took bite-size portions out of her meal, lifted and lowered her utensil at a manageable pace, and chewed her meal completely before swallowing. The four would be surprised by this if Youmu weren't so interested in the damage to her face, Suika and Reimu were enjoying their free treats, and Cirno actually knew something about the woman of her affections.

But what Cirno did know at that moment is that Yuyuko had a interest in her. She spent a lot of meal looking at her, invisibly asking her to strike up a conservation. And even though Cirno had become struck with total fear both mentally and physically, Yuyuko never broke her gentle smile.

"I see you're in a good mood." Youmu spoke up toward Reimu, trying to stay on her good side now.

"It's been a good day." Reimu admitted after swallowing some sweet kepayang nuts. "I made the shrine grounds look beautiful, I got some visitors bearing gifts…and I spent some time with my beloved." Reimu gave a playful punch to Suika's shoulder.

"But you live with her." Youmu pointed out. "You spend a great deal of time with her."

"…that's not what I meant."

"So…" Youmu asked, a bit unsure of what that she meant. Yuyuko understood and let out a small giggle. "…Cirno." The half-phantom turned her attention towards the statue of a fairy. "There's rumors about you going to a great deal of effort to better yourself so you can…marry Lady Yuyuko?" She asked.

"Yes." Cirno managed to get out.

"Okay." Youmu sighed before furrowing her brow and asking in a direct manner, "Why specifically Lady Yuyuko? What exactly do you see in her?"

"Wow, Yuyuko." Suika whistled. "When did Youmu become your dad?"

"I am Lady Yuyuko's bodyguard, I am here to assess the potential suitor for her hand. I want to make sure that Cirno…" She almost sneered at the word of 'Cirno' but she kept it down. "…won't harm Lady Yuyko in anyway. Be it mental or physical abuse…"

"I'm a ghost, Youmu." Yuyuko interrupted after putting down her fork. "Most physical things…pass through me."

"Except when the plot calls for it." Youmu muttered under her breath before continuing with a audible voice. "I want to make sure that this Cirno can make Lady Yuyko happy and content with life as a married woman. That is all."

"And to eat our limited food." Reimu remarked, pointing to Youmu's almost-finished plate. Youmu looked down and noticed that she was actually _ahead_ of Yuyuko.

"Speaking of that…" Youmu continued with a more normal, less-serious tone of voice. "…how are affairs around the shrine? I overheard a few humans in the shop districts that you have been spending a bit more…"

"It's better than before, yes." Reimu sighed out as she lowered her chopsticks. "I mean, Yukari hasn't dropped off allowance in a while, let alone drop by the shrine, and I got another mouth to feed…" She nudged Cirno, something that barely registered on the solid fairy's mind."…but I have been doing very well. More humans have been visiting the shrine and leaving donations…some even buying a few charms."

"It probably has to do with the recent disappearances of youkai." Youmu stated.

"There's a problem with that?" Reimu honestly asked. Youmu tilted her head with bugging eyes. "I haven't heard anything, honestly."

"Well, I guess I should explain." Youmu hung her head in annoyance. "And please Lady Yuyuko, don't interrupt with jokes. This could be something serious." Even the normally cheery Yuyuko nodded. "So, I'm guessing you last saw Yukari at your wedding?" Reimu nodded, getting interested. Suika even leaned in. "After your wedding, a few of the notable youkai in Gensokyo…vanished! There's no better word for it, there just hasn't been much word from a few youkai."

"I'm guessing that involves Yukari." Reimu reasoned out loud. "Anyone else?"

"Well…" Youmu placed a hand behind her head and scratched with a nervous tone. "…admittedly, I don't know much…" Reimu glared her down instead of verbally injecting. "…I know, I know! That seems to be part of the problem…a lack of communication. But I do know that Patchouli, Kaguya, Aya…" With that, Reimu choked out a laugh. "…Eiki, both Kanako and Suwako…" Cirno at least got that, and wondered if Sanae's bad mood was born from the vanishing of her…ancestors? Parents? Guardians? Whatever is was before they vanished. "…Satori, Hieda, the mouse Nazrin, and that Sumireko person. But these are all rumors, they could be moving about and just haven't been in touch."

"Doesn't seem to be a direct connection between them." Reimu wondered out loud. "But I'm surprised that Sanae didn't bring that Kanako and Swuako had vanished. She's was just here two weeks ago."

"So…" Yuyuko started after taking a sip of her now lukewarm tea. "…people have vanished without a trace…and those close to the missing don't discuss it with others? Sounds like one of those famous incidents has already began…and we're now just learning about it."

"I wish Marisa was here to help out…" Reimu sighed.

"The thief of a witch is missing too?" Youmu asked out loud with a hint of terror building in her voice. "Then it's not just the Youkai…it could be just about anyone. With the lack of information going about, there might be entire villages gone and we don't know about…"

"Where do I begin?" Reimu wondered. "I don't know who could pull this off…maybe I should talk with a few people close to the missing people…" She let out annoyed grunt. "I'm just too used to flying out and shooting everything in my path en route to a showdown with a powerful opponent."

"But just imagine!" Suika leaned onto her wife, a arm around Reimu's shoulder and her arm reaching out. "You could change your title to Fantasy Paradise Detective Reimu Hakurei, wear a deerstalker cap and trenchcoat, walk around while nibbling on a corncob pipe…"

"No thanks." Reimu playfully shoved Suika off. "But regardless, tomorrow I'm going to go around and ask a few people related if they know anything. I'll try to get to the bottom of this. Can I count on you for help Youmu?"

"Yes." Youmu nodded. "I'll cover the western side of Gensokyo, and you can handle the east. Perhaps Suika would be interested in heading up the mountain and talking with a few of the locals for information?"

"Well…" Suika looked over Cirno, still petrified. "…the wife doesn't want me vanishing off with a drinking buddy...but there's Cirno and she's got lessons with Yuugi…" Suika patted Cirno hard on the back, but not hard enough to snap Cirno back to reality. "…what do you say sport? You want to skip school to go and be detectives?"

"As long as you two actually make it home by dinner time, _sober_ , then it's fine." Reimu shrugged as she finished off her drink. "I mean…it's not like you're actually going to school…expect for Kiene's class, she'll destroy you if you're late."

"She teaches that on the full moon…which is two days from now." Suika reminded her. "So we should be fine if we skip Yuugi's class…and I'm pretty sure she won't mind." Reimu shook her head.

"Meanwhile, I'll be at my home writing poetry." Yuyuko spoke up, while fanning herself. "Sorry I can't be much help."

"You didn't even offer." Youmu sighed.

The rest of meal continued with mostly small talk and moments of silence. Kinda hard to talk about anything exciting or happy after discussing the random vanishings. But Cirno remained exactly where she sat, barely eating away at her meal but somehow managing to actually finish her meal ahead of the more conservatively-eating Reimu. She somehow had the courage within her to help clean up the table.

"Well, you didn't really say much." Yuyuko sighed as she leapt right up to her feet. "But I think it's because I came on a bit too strong, hmm?" She asked towards Cirno, stuck in automatic mode. "Well, maybe next time we met, there will be more to talk about." She leaned down towards Cirno and patted her on the cheek. "You look nice!"

Cirno's face went from stoically frozen to blushing bright red with a twisty smile. Yuyuko giggled as she turned to go and leave with Youmu following behind with a small wrapped cloth of remaining salmon. Cirno couldn't even manage out a farewell as the two guests went outside.

"Oh, and Ms. Hakurei?" Yuyko breathed out as she pulled a fan to cover her face, obviously something she picked up from Yukari. "I probably wouldn't put stake in your friend being apart of the missing people…after all…have you heard from the puppet master?" Reimu was about to say something, but she stopped and thought about it for a second. "Just something to consider." Yuyuko shrugged as she floated away, with Youmu trailing behind.

Once Yuyuko had vanished from everyone's sight, only did Cirno could relax and say in a shaky tone, "I had my first date."

"Yes you did." Reimu sighed as she walked over to stand next to Cirno.

"It went well mommy and daddy." Cirno quaked out, reeling a bit.

"Indeed it did." Suika confirmed with a nice gentle pat on the back.

"I'm one step closer to my goal."

"Sure."

"Tell me, do the rabbits hop over fences covered in honey?"

"Bedtime."


	14. A Somewhat Great Detective Appears

For once, Cirno awoke early. Yesterday left her a battered person in both body and mind, but today, she had a mission. While she slumbered, her mind caught up to what she overheard at the table. People vanishing, lack of communication, she and Suika going up to the mountain to ask people to see if they knew anything. That summed things up nicely. Cirno jumped right out of her futon, got dressed and exited the bedroom.

"I am ready to start my fact-finding mission!" Cirno announced…to no one, as she awoke before Reimu and Suika. Cirno let out a eep as she buttoned her lip and turned back to the bedroom. It appeared that the married couple still remained asleep. Cirno decided to not try her luck and work quietly. She tiptoed into the kitchen while keeping her breathing as swallow as possible. Cirno went to the pantry door and placed a strong grip on the knob. She turned it slow, using all of her muscles to keep the knob from squeaking. Despite her strength, she couldn't stop the door from creaking.

Cirno took a deep breath. Taking it slow would just make it even creek the entire time. She would have to do it in one pass. But as the pantry door would meet a wall, Cirno would need to use enough force to the get the pantry open and catch it before it collided with the wall and make a angry-mom-awakening noise. Steeling herself, she threw the door open with her right hand and managed to catch it with her left. It creaked, but at least the thing was open now.

On the top shelf were a bag of some sort of human breakfast from the outside world, something called corn flakes. Apparently, it came into the shrine's possession after someone gratefully made dropped it into the shrine donation box. Cirno didn't really understand why humans would eat corn for breakfast, but she knew that out of all of the things in pantry, it was the quietest option available. Cirno flew up and grabbed it with both hands. The bag's wrap crunched. Cirno bit her lip as she lowered herself down to the ground, keeping the bag steady.

For safety's sake, Cirno decided to eat in the kitchen this morning. She grabbed a clean bowl out of the cabinet and laid it down on the counter next to the sink. Like with the door, Cirno gingerly laid her hands on the wrap's two sides and pulled, managing to open it without creating too loud of a sound.

Slowing tilting the bag sideways, Cirno shook it with slow shoves to get the flakes to fall out and into the bowl. They rustled in the bowl, but Cirno had gained enough confidence to believe that everything was safe now. If they hadn't gotten up now, they weren't going to unless she did something reckless.

Cirno looked at the bowl of corn flakes, wondering what she had forgotten to do. It took her a second, but she recalled the next part. Milk! It shouldn't make noise! Cirno let out a relaxed breath as she reached into the ice box and located a bottle of milk. She removed the stopper and poured…

…into the bowl of cereal that popped and crackled once the milk touched it. Cirno panicked from the unusual noise and she dropped the bottle. It promptly shattered into a hundred pieces once it landed, scattering the pieces all over the floor. Cirno launched herself up into the ceiling, smashing against the tiles and loosening one. It skittered down the roof, bouncing off each tiles, making a loud clanking noise before it fell down to the floor and also shattered.

Cirno remained perfectly still. She anticipated something heavy to come flying into the kitchen and bash her skull in. She also expected at least a loud voice to destroy her eardrums.

But…nothing. Cirno sunk to the floor taking shallow, careful breaths. "So close…" She let out.

"PYSCHE!" Screeched Reimu as she rocketed the Yin-Yang orb right into Cirno's face, crushing her skull and causing her to be borrowed into the ground like the corpse she had became. Thank goodness she could revive on the spot.

"As if we don't have enough on our plate as it is." Reimu groaned as she shoveled the last pile of glass shards into the wastebin. "From here on out, you're giving me all of the change that Yuugi gives you."

"Yes mom." Cirno moaned as she rubbed the eagle egg sized bump on her head.

"Don't call me that." Reimu hissed under her breath.

Suika arrived inside, clapping her hands together. "Okay, it's just a single tile. No biggie."

"Yeah, that depends if someone or something doesn't come by and makes it rain." Reimu threw up her hands. "Which you know…it WILL happen."

"Ah, don't worry." Suika slapped Reimu on the back. Reimu managed to keep her balance, but she did stumble forward. Even after all this time, and Reimu's back had yet to harden itself into a wall capable of fully withstanding the mighty backslap. "On our mission into the mountains for facts regarding the missing people, I'll call in a few favors and get the roof fixed up…and the rest of the shrine."

"If you can't, it's not that big of a deal." Reimu gently sighed, calmly down a bit. "I can just stick our grocery bags in the holes for the time being."

"Nah, don't worry!" Suika leaned in for a hug. "I'll fix this mess our daughter made ~"

"Still not that comfortable calling her that." Reimu grunted out.

At least Cirno got to try the human cereal. Kinda airy, but gave a nice crunch…before it all became soggy.

Once Suika finished up her own breakfast of leftovers and watered her garden, she and Cirno set forth to the mountain after saying good-bye to Reimu. Reimu did plan to go out, but she needed time to calm down first. Didn't want to go around throwing a giant orb at humans, they wouldn't survive that. And killing is bad.

"Where should we start?" Cirno asked as the two arrived at the base of the mountain.

"Well…" Suika started as she rubbed her nose. "We should start with the people who vanished off this mountain. That's…the reporter and the two gods of the shrine. So let's go and find that wolf tengu!" Suika took a swing from her canteen before hopping up the mountain steps.

"Do you know where she lives?" Cirno asked as she flew after Suika.

"I figured we could follow the usual trails!"

"What usual trails?"

"Clumps of dog hair, dog tracks in the mud, chewed-up objects, and poop!"

Cirno never felt so happy that she could fly. While the trail was clean of excrement thankfully, clumps of dog hair and tracks were plentiful and lead the two towards the side of the mountain where a wide, tall and strong waterfall hammered down onto a shimmering lake. At the far side of the rim of the lake sat a figure clad in white who appeared to be playing shogi by herself. "Hey, that must be Momiji!" Suika cried out as she raced over.

"Oh no." Momiji let out a terrified groan as she recognized the voice. She took a deep breath as the two visitors of the mountain came up to her. "Hello, Mrs. Ibuki…and…" She trailed off and traced a circle with her finger at Cirno.

"Cirno."

"…and Cirno." Momiji got up to her feet. "Yes…how may I assist you today?"

"We're looking for information regarding the disappearance of several people." Cirno spoke up, putting on a gruff detective voice. Momiji tilted her head in slight confusion. "From the mountain in particular, Aya and the two gods at the shrine. Do you recall the last time you saw them?"

"Ah yes." Momiji let out a soft chuckle. "The annoying reporter. How could ANYONE forget her? I saw her at least a month ago. We talked, I told her I didn't care, and she left. And then the most peaceful month began…"

"What did she talk about?" Cirno asked as she scrawled down the facts on a notepad that Suika recalled not seeing before. "Perhaps about a story she was looking into? Reporters tend to vanish while investigating some specific matters…"

"True." Momiji put on a large fake smile. "But I didn't care then about what she was looking into. She put on the usual airs before I tossed my shield at her to get her to go away." Momiji sighed and rolled her head. "As for the two goddess of the shrine…don't know. Kanako does her own thing and Suwako could just be hiding away in some small cave in the misty sections of the mountain."

"You patrol the mountain and yet you don't know where three prominent residents went off to?" Cirno growled. "And given your obvious dislike for the tengu…" Cirno tapped her pencil against her notepad in thought. Then she dramatically pointed her pencil forward right in Momiji's face before announcing, "…perhaps you ripped off Poirot's ABC Murders to cover the disappearance of the reporter!"

"What!" Momiji jumped back with wide eyes. "What-t…are you talking about?"

"In Agatha Christie's book, it tells of a murderer that wishes to only kill one man to gain a inheritance, but obviously doesn't want to be caught as he will be the prime suspect. So!" Cirno suddenly shouted, making everyone around her jump…maybe even few of the nearby trees. "He creates a serial killer specifically to ward away attention."

"What she is on?" A very confused Momiji asked towards Suika. The only thing the oni could do was to shrug. "Alright." Momiji asked between gritted teeth. "Let's say I did make everyone vanish so I could hide my true intentions. And…WHY?!" She bellowed out loud.

Cirno opened her mouth to continue her accusation…and then promptly closed it once she realized she had nothing to continue with. Heck, she had no clue as to what she just said. What even is a Poirot? Sounded arrogant. Cirno backed off with Momiji starting her down. Cirno had to slink behind Suika to avoid the glare.

"Do you have any other asinine thing to ask me? I have to practice for a upcoming tournament." Momiji motioned over to her shogi board. Suika shook her head. "Good." She pointed behind her. "I would prefer it if we don't run into each other later. Do your business and leave." And without as so much as a goodbye, Momiji sat back down and got back to dealing with her invisible opponent's Yagura Castle defense.

"Come on, Cirno." Suika turned around and held her hand out. "Let's go up to the shrine and see Sanae." Cirno looked at the hand all confused. "Ah, don't worry about before. Remember?" Suika bent her knees and held up a finger in the air. "Logic doesn't belong in Gensokyo. Besides, I was rather impressed! If we had all of the evidence and the suspect in a room…" Suika put on a tough-guy accent. "…you would have put 'dem in a tight spot!"

"We don't have to tell Reimu about this, right?" Cirno asked after a second.

"Nope!" Suika let out a small giggle as she held out her hand again. Cirno put on a nice smile before gently placing her hand in Suika's. With a comfy grasp, Suika lead Cirno towards the path upward to the mountain and towards the shrine. Even once the path got too rough for walking and it required them to fly the rest of the way, they remained hand-in-hand the rest of the way and when they returned home to the shrine.


	15. Return And Departure

Their searches sadly end up being fruitless. Cirno and Suika did get a bundle of fresh fruit from a passing Minoriko but other than a basket of strawberries and mangos, they were fruitless. That and the veggies that Minoriko passed off.

Sanae wasn't too helpful nor too kind. She brought up the already established facts of her guardians having vanished off the face of the earth and then told the two to beat a hasty retreat unless they wanted a danmaku battle. And while Suika could easily take on Sanae with Cirno's help, she decided to not engage the cranky green-haired shrine maiden today. The two descended down the mountain holding hands and their baskets of produce. Awaiting them at the shrine were Reimu, making her usual pot of tea in the kitchen. Once Suika declared the usual sitcom greeting of "Honey, I'm home!", Reimu started up with what she learned.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes. Not a thing." Reimu shook her head. "I interviewed all the people I could. I found Komachi and after smacking her in the head for a few minutes, she woke up and told me that while her boss had vanished, she did leave some instructions…that Komachi were trying to ignore until I pressured her into doing her job. I found that Tsuchigumo Yamame in town, and she told me that she hadn't seen Satori. And the villagers hadn't seen Hieda in a while…"

"That's pretty much we heard too." Suika chipped in as she grabbed her watering can to go and fill it. "Nobody had seen Aya, Kanako or Suwako."

"And I have a feeling that Youmu will turn up with the same information." Reimu sighed. "So far, this investigation into this incident hasn't been all that great." She leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "I would greatly prefer if someone were to come in, blow a hole in the shrine, and then we would chase after them, and then fight them to resolve this whole thing in a big battle."

"Maybe who's behind this isn't good at combat?" Suika wondered out loud.

"That'll be something new." Reimu shrugged. "Villain comes in, announces why they did the things they did, and falls over flat once a tiny bullet hits them." She let out a little chuckle. "Still, would make for a nice change of pace."

"Hey, what's for dinner?" Cirno interrupted, going completely off-subject.

"Miso soup." Reimu sighed.

With the conservation about the missing people being derailed due to hungry idiots, the three sat down for dinner of some miso soup with some small chunks of broccoli. Cirno would have chirped up about the lack of flavor or meat in the meal, but a simple glare from Reimu that contained a simple reminder of what occurred this morning made Cirno consume her meal in peace and quiet. At least Suika brought up something positive in how Reimu could improve her cooking.

And then a sound suddenly broke into the air. A sound thought to be lost to the ages echoed throughout the shrine and Reimu's head. A faint smile suddenly appeared on the shrine maiden's face as that particular sound resonated all throughout the place. And her smile continued to grow and grow as the sound once more played. "Can it be?" Reimu gasped as she rose up and raced to the front of the shrine.

Her expectations were met when she saw a hand drop a crisp bill into the donation box on top of the already donated coins. Reimu's mouth went open in a delightful smile not only because of the donations but because of the person donating. Her good friend Marisa looked at her and called out, "Do you got any change?"

"MARISA!" Reimu called out as she reached towards her friend with open arms. Marisa stood still and giggled in her throat as Reimu wrapped her hands around Marisa.

"Wow, you're actually happy to see me!" Marisa laughed out loud as she patted Reimu on the back and retuned the hug. "So, how's things?"

"Good, great!" Reimu slowly backed off from the hug with a goofy smile. "The usual problems are still going on, but things have been good!" Reimu waved to the inside shrine and exclaimed, "Come in, come in!"

As Marisa walked in, Reimu dove towards the donation box and opened the box to see what Marisa dropped in. It looked real…and sounded real, but Marisa could still be trying to sneak in toy money. But as Reimu reached in and felt around the bottom, she could feel it to legal tender. She pulled it out and found herself with…

"Fifty thousand yen?" Reimu gasped as she held a hand over her open mouth. "This is…"

"Hey, Reimu!" Suika called from inside. "Is it okay to feed Marisa?"

"Yeah!" Reimu quickly collected the money and stuffed it into her pockets. "Coming!"

As soon as Reimu returned to the dining room, Marisa flashed a toothy smile and asked, "You got the money with 'ya?" Reimu backed up, surprised that she got caught this early on. Marisa took great delight in seeing Reimu all timid. "Probably should have just given 'ya the money instead of shoving it into the box. Didn't know you were in."

"Marisa…" Reimu dug out the money and showed it to the people in the room. "…this is…a lot. It's fifty-thousand…this is enough to support us for a entire week! Are you sure…"

"Yeah, I got more where that comes from, but I do need to donate to my favorite shrine." Marisa took off her hat and threw it towards the coat rack and it landed on a hook. "Felt like I owned you for all the time I spent here."

Reimu was taken back. Marisa being generous and actually making reparations? Maybe her disappearance had something to do with her sudden change in personality. "Thanks." Reimu nodded as she put the money back into her pocket. "So, where did you come into the money? Your store has been closed since you vanished…did you set up elsewhere?"

"Nah." Marisa waved as she helped herself to a bowl of soup. "Just sold off a great deal of the stuff hanging around my house."

Okay, this had to be a spoof. Marisa would NEVER sell off any of the junk hanging around her house, let alone move it away from that item's corner. Even if her house was on fire, she were about to be evicted, if one of the items was actually a blackhole creating device that just activated…Marisa WOULD NOT REMOVE A SINGLE ITEM FROM HER HOUSE.

"Now, I know what you're thinking." Marisa held up a finger and interrupted Reimu's thoughts like she read them. "But the thing is, I had plenty of things hanging around that were cluttering up the place. We needed the room and it turns out I had some plenty of valuable stuff hanging around…made a nice mint…"

"Wait, who's we?" Suika piped up.

"Who else?" Marisa shrugged. "Me and Alice! Everyone and their dogs and the fleas on those dogs knew the two of us were going to get together! No sense in trying to deny those feelings…so we eloped."

"That's it?" Reimu questioned with a raised eyebrow. "You vanished without a word so you could marry someone without your friends or family around?"

"Well, I didn't think I could stand to go through a wedding." Marisa held up a finger as she used her other hand to pick up and slurp away at her soup. "That, and the fact it didn't start out as us eloping. We just went out for some time and we ended up marrying in secret. It just…" Marisa puckered her lips and stared to stare off in a different direction from the others. "…happened. One of those things."

"Ah." Now it was Reimu's turn to put on a curvy smile. "You're not telling us something." Both Suika and Cirno leaned in closer as they could sense that something interesting was going to go down. "Something…a bit more important than just a secret marriage. Am I going to have to pry?"

"Well…" Marisa let out a nervous chuckle. "…there's a real good reason as to why I had to clear out the mess in my house. A very good reason." Marisa continued to look away and kept pretending that she wasn't hiding anything really important.

"I'm guessing Alice is moving in with you." Reimu started to detect out loud. "And I can imagine you would need room for her stuff…but going by the amount of money you now possess, it sounds like you cleared out a ton of room. More than enough for Alice methinks." Reimu cocked her head. "In fact, unless someone's else is moving in…"

"So I might have taken something from the medicine woman." Masira shook her head. "Something she was testing. Something that would severally impact a relationship and take it real seriously…something I took without really knowing what impact it would have…"

"Marisa?"

"…real hard to explain this…so I might have…and this is going to sound incredibly far-fetched…"

"Gensokyo rewrote the entry on far-fetched. Just say it."

"Okay, so I knocked Alice up and we're expecting a baby."

The room went rightfully quiet. The three people who lived in the shrine had a mixed bag of reactions to the news. Cirno was just confused by the news, not really sure what just happened or what this meant. Suika had a big goofy smile on her face with her mind racing on the possibilities of the future. And Reimu's face had become twisted in horror as she knew what Suika was thinking.

"It was just a pill bottle." Marisa sighed. "It had a interesting picture on it…I wouldn't mention it to the little one, but the picture was just too tempting to me to leave alone…and now I got to go and raise a family."

"Uhhh…" Reimu quaked before a quick shake of her head to get her back into gear. "…so, how's Alice? She's okay with all of this?"

"Yeah, she's pretty excited. She's got this whole line of dolls ready for our kid. Alice is actually coming by, just as soon as she does whatever she wants to do in the village." Marisa finally returned to her soup bowl, finishing it off. "So…we're going to have to balance our incident solving time with family time."

"I can handle a incident!" Cirno suddenly spoke up. "These things are pretty easy, right? Just dodge bullets and return fire, that's how I'll do things."

"Pretty much, expect for the part about it being easy." Reimu shook her head. "Thank you Cirno, but I'm pretty sure that if a incident comes up, me and Marisa can still handle things. I'm pretty sure that Alice would allow Marisa to go and save Gensokyo."

"In any case, it means less time hanging out at the shrine." Marisa placed her soup bowl down on the table. "I have to take care of my new family and run my shop fulltime. If I do go out for treasure hunting, it has to be for purely financial reasons." Marisa breathed out in a reflective manner. "Can't be lazy anymore."

"I know what you mean." Reimu smirked as she looked towards Cirno, who had gone back to her meal and now was trying to scape some dry bits.

The two old friends and incident solvers spent the next ten minutes reminiscing on the past and wondering about their futures while enjoying some lukewarm miso soup. Not that either minded that their meal wasn't the best, both were happy to finally spend some time together after a long time of being apart.

"Marisa?" Called out another familiar voice from outside the shrine. "I gotten everything I need from the village. We need to head home soon, we got perishables."

"Coming!" Marisa shouted out to Alice outside. "I guess she'll say hi to you another day." Marisa jumped back up to her and laid a hand on the sitting Reimu's shoulder. "It's great to see you again. We'll catch up another day, after we move back in."

"Good day to you Marisa." Reimu flashed a honest smile towards her friend. "Don't be stranger."

"I won't!" Marisa let out a laugh as she walked out of the shrine, empty-handed for once. As soon as Marisa left the main entrance, she spotted Alice admiring one of the stone lanterns lining the path to the shrine. Marisa walked up to her wife and tapped her on the shoulder. "Let's get going."

"How was meeting your old friend?" Alice asked as the two walked away from the shrine hand-in-hand.

"It's great and all…" Marisa shook her head. "…but I don't think me and that little fairy ever met before. And that oni…I couldn't recall her name until Reimu mentioned it."

"Reimu is her name?"

"Yeah. Didn't recall it until Sukie…that oni called for her."

"Are you sure we know her?"

"I'm pretty sure we do. I remember being that at the shrine before."

"Maybe we should keep our distance until we're certain about who we know."

"Yeah. After all, what sort of shrine maiden hangs around with youkai? She could be a enemy after all."


	16. This Cat Gots Balls

The next couple of days were uneventful….sans Yuugi coming down and nearly stomping a crater in Cirno's head for skipping her class. Thankfully, Reimu was in a good mood after seeing her friend after so long and saved Cirno by dueling and easily beating Yuugi in a surprisingly short danmaku battle. Yuugi was mostly peeved due to the fact that Cirno skipped class and yet came on the mountain.

"You should have dropped by and told me you had something important going on." She groaned as she spat out a wad of soil.

"Sorry." Cirno apologized as she looked down.

"You got Keine's class, so you're allowed to skip the next class. But!" Yuugi pounded her fists together. "The next time we meet, I'm going to make you work! Fingers to the bone, toes to the bone, everything to bone!" Yuugi turned around and started to walk away. "I'm going to turn you into a skeleton, fairy girl!"

"I'll die." Cirno told.

"Good!"

But after that little encounter, things were fairly quiet. Kasen's class offered nothing new; chores and a sparring match that ended with Cirno being shot into the ground at least twice. Really, the biggest thing that happened in the days leading up to Keine's class was how different Reimu acted. Apparently, Marisa became the Hakurei's messiah as after seeing her, Reimu became all sweetness and rainbows. She worked all day long without complaining or even making a sly comment. Every time she saw Suika, she had to go over and plant a wet kiss on her wife's cheek. She didn't even raise her voice when she caught Cirno sneaking a few snacks out of the kitchen.

With the arrival of the full moon, Cirno was allowed to sleep in, as she would have a very long night ahead of her.

The fairy expected one of her guardians to awaken her. Reimu smacking her with the gohei or with the Yin-Yang Orb, Suika stomping on her or calling upon her mini-mes to square-dance on her face. The actual thing that got her up was not something hard and forceful but rather soft and playful.

When Cirno opened her eyes, she noticed a pair of feline eyes staring right at her. "Hey, you wet the bed." Chen told.

"No!" Cirno squirmed out of her bed and patted her lower quarters. Dry. Dry as a desert. Never mind the fact that deserts don't exist in Gensokyo and stubborn-minded Cirno wouldn't even know what a desert is and would confuse it in both verbal and written department with the sweet snack after a meal. What I'm saying is the Cirno fell for a stupid prank. "I didn't wet the bed?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with 'ya." Chen patted Cirno on the back with her soft paws. "So, you're my classmate for Keine's class tonight?"

"Oh…" Cinro coughed as she straighten her back out to go into her usual pose. "Yeah." She cleared her throat as she laid her hands on her waist. "So, what time is it and why are you are this early?"

"Ran wanted to come by and talk with Reimu." Chen explained as she sat down. "Plus, she heard about how you were staying here and wanted to have a little playdate before school."

"I don't have time for playing." Cirno huffed like the adult man-child she was turning into. "I need to become stronger so I can wed the hand of Yuyuko."

"Wow!" Chen whistled. "That's a tall order right there…" Her look of amazement went away as it got replaced by a confused expression. "Wait, if she's a ghost, how do you plan on doing the things that married couples do? Wouldn't you just pass right through her?"

"What do you mean?" Cirno asked with a tilt of her head. "She can pick up and eat things just fine…I'm pretty sure we can hold hands, hug and kiss."

"I meant things beyond that." Chen put on a devious smile benefiting her animalistic nature. "When you're alone."

"I'm pretty sure she can drink." Cirno stated.

"And after you finish drinking?"

"…you go to bed? Not sure where you're going with this…"

"Oh my." Chen giggled. "You honestly don't know."

"Don't know WHAT?" A impatient Cirno exasperated. "Tell me!"

"Oh, about the things that a married couple while they're alone in bed." Chen cooed. "What Reimu and Suika do. I can tell." She tapped on her nose. Cirno couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary. "And Yuyuko, while a ghost, still has a certain need you're going to need to fulfill."

"…what sort of need."

"Isn't it obvious? It's…"

"CHEN!" The annoyed cry of older Shikigami bellowed out and bowled Chen over. "Stop talking about that sort of stuff!"

"Sorry." Chen meekly apologized. "Well, I'll tell you when it's time for class. We should be alone then…"

"Okay…" Cirno yawned as laid down to go back to sleep. "Wake me when it's time."

"You want to spend all day sleeping?" Chen asked.

"Don't you?"

"I would nap all day, but I got things to do." Chen scratched behind her ear. "Defending the Yakumo household from intruders, practicing my magic, getting into adorable scrapes and adventures…"

"And why do you want to spend time with me?" Cirno mumbled, trying to get something resembling sleep.

"Why not?" Chen huffed out. "It's not like you hang around with your old friends any more." This got Cirno's attention, as she rose up to face Chen with a annoyed look. "I talked with Rumia, Daiyousei, Wriggle and Mystia recently. They miss you."

"I have been doing a series of grueling challenges to become all the more stronger!" Cirno proudly declared. "I have dealt with dragons, climbed mountains, fought a martial artist, and already had a successful date with the ghost princess!"

"Well, maybe you should have taken you to a etiquette class then." Chen remarked under her breath, which was further hidden under Cirno's intense bravado. "Well, don't worry. You'll be seeing them tonight." Chen stated with a normal voice. "Maybe we can all catch up?"

"Why not?" Cirno huffed out. "Might as well. I won't be have time to play with the amount of training I'll be doing."

"Then shouldn't you be training?" Chen finally pointed out. That got Cirno to be quiet, as she tried to think of a excuse. "Why are you napping then?" Chen added in to make it even more awkward for Cirno. Cirno pouted her lips together in deep thought (Which is like four feet deep) and looked away. "Perhaps…"

"I'm up!" Cirno shot out of bed once again. "Let's do some training together!"

"I got a ball." Chen pulled a red dodgeball out of nowhere. "We could play mock spellcard duel."

"Mock spellcard duel?"

"Instead of throwing deadly lasers at each other, we instead throw dodgeballs." Chen pulled yet another dodgeball out of the void. "Or rather, I throw dodgeballs at you and you have to dodge them."

"And where are you getting these dodgeballs?" Cirno appropriately asked.

"Ever since Yukari vanished, Ran has been teaching me how to use the gaps." Chen showed it off by pulling another dodgeball out of a unseen gap…but as she only had two hands, she caught the third ball with her tails. "So far, I've been able to store and retrieve things, haven't gotten around to Yukari's level of feats…" Chen couldn't help but let out a small giggle out of reminiscing about all the times that Yukari used her gaps for incredibly petty reasons. "…but one day I will!"

"Just how many dodgeballs do you have in there?" Cirno inquired.

"Oh…" Chen whistled out as she called upon another dodgeball…which she had to drop onto the floor due to her not having a extra arm or a extra tail to hold onto. "I do."

And suddenly, a rain of dodgeballs came out of nowhere, bouncing off everything and everyone in the bedroom. Off Cirno's head, off Chen's head, off the table, off the beds, off the walls, off the other balls, basically the whole room went off like a fireworks festival. Both the fairy and the nekomata were knocked down by the barrage of soft rubbery meteors. Both Cirno and Chen squealed as they were hit over and over again.

That, and the repeated noises of 'thunk, thunk' got both Ran and Reimu to go into the room and see the chaos…and become apart of it as a dodgeball pelted Reimu in the face. Ran, her sleeves together like always, ducked under another one and snapped her fingers. All of dodgeballs suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving Cirno and Chen crouched over with their hands on their heads. "I see you need more practice." Ran commented on.

"Hey, at least I was able to get that much in!" Chen complimented herself while reeling back a bit from being bonked too many times on the head.

"Children." Ran sighed.

"The little reminders that hell does, in fact, exist." Reimu added after she dislodged the dodgeball from her face.

At least Ran and Reimu didn't punish the two by making them stay inside. Cirno still got to play mock spellcard duel…for all of twelve seconds as a repeat of what happened in the bedroom happened outside. Ever before had so many dodgeballs been lodged into one person's face…


	17. A Lesson To Learn

Before Keine's class started, Cirno managed to improve on her mock spellcard duel score. Nothing too comical; like she went up only a mere second to her original score of twelve seconds. She actually got to the point where she could last a good twenty-five seconds before a big red dodgeball would smash her in the face.

With the sun descending over the horizon to make way for the faint glow of the ever-foreboding full moon took over the sky, (As many still feared a invasion by the Lunarians) Cirno and Chen got ready. They grabbed two backpacks that Ran provided and stuffed them with notepads, (One for taking notes, and one for doodling in.) pencils of many colors, pens of two colors, erasers of only one color and a small packed bag of two riceballs and a packet of store-bought senbei.

"So you do this every full moon?" Cirno asked Chen after they waved good-bye to their parents.

"Keine is pretty strict about us being on time." Chen explained. "Even more so than usual. She's actually incredibly impatient, so please just follow her orders, don't interrupt her, and above all else…don't do anything out of line."

"She did try to kill me when I came to see her." Cirno reminded herself out loud. "Is that a usual thing?"

"Yeah." Chen huffed out. "Sadly."

As they walked off towards their class, Ran stopped waving and turned towards Reimu. "I best be off." Ran told as she lifted herself up in the air. "Mistress Yukari may be gone, but I must keep the household tidy."

"Okay." Reimu sighed. "She's really gone? Not playing around, but honestly gone?"

"It appears to be. She left in the middle of the night while me and Chen were sleeping, didn't leave any orders, and hasn't dropped anything off via a gap. Mistress Yukari has completely vanished and it almost appears that she doesn't want to be found." Ran looked down a bit. "I pray that nothing horrible has befallen her."

"It's Yukari." Reimu looked towards the sky. "If something bad didn't happen, then we wouldn't be around long enough to think about it."

"True." Ran comfortably sighed. "It's nice to see you again Mrs. Ibuki. Also." Ran put on a very fox-like smile. "Good luck with the child…"

"Cirno isn't our-" And Reimu didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as Ran suddenly vanished. The shrine maiden let out a annoyed groan but quickly clapped her trap shut. It's okay, not a big deal. She's free of Cirno for the rest of night, and Suika had a entire night planned out for the two of them. Time to go off and enjoy a evening alone with the wife with the illumination of the moon to keep them company.

But the main focus is on our young fairy, not on the main character of the franchise. If we did focus on Reimu, this fic would have to be rated much higher.

Cirno and Chen arrived at Keine's home with only two minutes to spare. The other young youkai had already arrived and were sitting very still and quiet. Not a word of gossip passed through the group. Everyone sat in silent fear of their currently unseen teacher. Cirno would have said hi to her old group of friends, but Chen quickly placed a hand over her mouth to keep her silent. The two joined the mute community and waited silently for Keine to appear.

Within a minute exactly arrived Keine, having already transformed into her were-hakutaku form. Her usual blue outfit and her pagoda hat were replaced with a lime-green variant with ripped sleeves to show off her rippling muscles and two giant horns. Cirno could have sworn that she remembered one of the horns have a red ribbon tied to it. Combined with her eternal scowl, it looked like that anything resembling fun or even a shred of light-heartiness in Keine had been ripped out by Keine herself.

"Let's start with the lesson." Keine snarled out. "This month's class is about algebra. We're be starting with long division…"

"I thought you only did history…" Cirno voiced out loud, immediately breaking the second rule. Chen quickly smashed a hand around Cirno's mouth as Keine scanned over the crowd, looking for the person who dared to voice over hers. Thankfully, she didn't spend much time looking and got back to her lesson.

"It's best taught through example." Keine explained as she wheeled out a chalkboard. The number 500 with the division bracket around it and the number 22 on the outside were already written on the board. "Tell me the first step." Chen's hand shot up. "Yes. Nekomata."

"The best number is 2. We multiply that by 22, get 44 and subtract it by the 50 in 500…" Chen stated in dull but formal tone. Makes sense that she would know how to do math beyond her age level, Ran is a mathematical genius. Keine didn't even nod towards the correct answer and just wrote the step on the board as Chen continued. "…and we get 7, so we carry the 0 down to get 70."

"Now." Keine clapped her hands together. "Would someone like to answer other than Chen?" But nobody dared to raise their hand. Most of them just stared down at the ground and hoped that someone else would raise their hand. "Mystia?" The siren looked away, her lip quivering. "Perhaps Wriggle would continue the solution?" The bug girl actually let out a small whimper and silently begged for someone to help her. "Maybe Rumia would like to answer a question?" Rumia remained quiet and still. Cirno looked over to her old friend and realized that Rumia kept her arms down at her sides.

"Perhaps the new student would like to make her introduction?" Cirno nearly jumped and yelled out loud as Keine suddenly appeared next to her, staring at her intently. "Tell us, Cirno. What's the next number we need to continue the problem?" Cirno tried to look over to Chen for help, but Keine stepped in front of Chen to block her. "It's not that hard…" Kiene cooed.

Cirno never needed to use math in her entire life, like most high school graduates who don't aspire to become math teachers. How would she know how to perform long division when she didn't how to division in the first place? Let alone count further than 20! And now she had no lifeline…what can she do?

"I'll challenge you!" Cirno blurted out, going with the first thing that came to mind.

"Pardon?" Keine asked, her expression unchanging.

"I challenge you to a danmaku duel!" Cirno repeated. "If I win…"

"You get to leave class?" Keine suggested with the same expression. "A instant A? Candy for the class?"

"I…I…" Cirno stammered. "I want you to stop being such a bully!"

Keine's expression did change suddenly after hearing that. She went from her usual unnerving smile to a look of total surprise. "You…" Keine stammered out. Her look of confusion turned into complete anger. "…will suffer."

Keine flew up into the open night sky and surrounded herself with a array of four white orbs. As Cirno flew up, the orbs unleashed silver narrow bullets in a wide circle. Cirno immediately backed away as the bullets came after her. There's a ton of bullets! More so than what most people would use. No way she could dodge them all…Cirno considered just running through and tanking some bullets.

But something came back to her, a occurrence so rare it nearly gave her a headache. A memory of something she overheard a few days ago: "You could easily trap Yukari Yakumo using her own gaps against her." Sounds awesome! Expect for the fact that Cirno isn't fighting Yukari, let alone that Yukari had vanished for parts unknown. But another less important memory came up: "While your ability to freeze could be very versatile against a great deal of enemies…you refuse to use it to the maximum effect."

A idea formulated in her mind. Again, a small headache formed. Cirno descended further away from the approaching bullets, just enough for the bullets to spread out so far to give her plenty of breathing room. Keine continued the assault by unleashing red bullets all around. By this point, most of the children had evacuated far away. Chen couldn't help but watch hopelessly as prayed that the fight would end with Cirno running away. Instead, Cirno did the opposite.

Cirno let out a chilly mist around her. As she ducked, dodged and weaved through the bullets, the ones that grazed her and became enveloped in the mist slowed down as the mist started to freeze them. Not enough to completely stop them, but enough to keep them at bay. It made approaching so much easier as the bullets in a 60 degree around her slowed down to allow her to easily dodge.

Keine switched things up by sending out rows and rows of bullets while throwing giant purple balls of energy. Cirno kept a eye on one of the giant orbs towards her. She put both hands forward and sent out a powerful beam of icy energy that started to encase the orb in ice. Once the bullet completely stopped, Cirno grabbed the frozen bullet and carried up towards Keine, letting the frozen block take the bullets for her.

Anger rushed into Keine as the sight of her enemy came closer to her. Keine forgo using bullets and charged straight towards Cirno headfirst. Because Cirno was busy pushing forward with the iceblock, she didn't notice Keine until two horns crashed right through the ice and nearly poked Cirno. The fairy let out a scream as she dropped the ice ball and dashed away as Keine pulled herself out of the ice and chased after Cirno.

"Some fight!" Keine screeched out as she threw out more orbs of energy. "I had a harder time opening jars than taking you on!" Keine zoomed over to get in front of Cirno. "It's over!" She hollered out as she tilted her head back in preparation to headbutt Cirno.

In a moment of blind panic, Cirno brought both of her hands forth and sent out a ice beam. Rageful Keine got hit right in the face with the beam, pushing her back as frost started to grow all over her head. Cirno quickly took the opportunity to back off and go straight into her trump card while Keine tore chunks of ice off her face. Cirno held up a card and shouted out: "Perfect Freeze!"

As Keine ripped off the last big shred of ice off from her forehead, she saw a army of bullets randomly approaching her. Keine gritted her teeth and let out a hoarse groan as she weaved herself to go through the assault. Cirno saw Keine coming in close but continued to send out bullets in the hope of stopping her solid.

Nothing doing. Keine charged straight through, catching Cirno and holding into a bearhug. She tighten her muscles to squeeze Cirno in a medium sense; not a gentle hug obviously but she didn't use all her strength. She aimed to knock Cirno out not kill her.

Cirno squirmed and struggled, but Keine's rippling muscles continued to crush her. "Just give it up…" Keine whispered. "Save myself the trouble…" She let out a small giggle as she looked down towards the ground for a brief second before returning her vision to Cirno with a demented grin. Keine dropped out of the sky, sending herself and Cirno plummeting to the ground. "Ready to crash land!" She hollered out loud.

"No." Cirno gritted between her teeth. "Ready to calm down?" She asked before managing to get arms out of the hold and laying her cold hands on Keine's shoulders. Keine gasped, but she didn't have time to save herself as a thick layer of ice quickly surrounded her and Cirno. Both Keine and Cirno became encased in the ice and flew straight into the ground. The ice around them shattered as soon they meteored into the ground. Keine bounced away as her body went limp while Cirno quickly zippng away.

Cirno looked around for something to help her, something that can fully help her deal with Keine before she got up. She noticed that a nearby tree had been split all over thanks to the barrage of bullets fired early. Cirno went over to that area and looked for the strongest branch she could pick up. She noticed one such branch; twice as big as her and as thick as one of Keine's horns.

As Keine shook the remaining ice off her, she reared her head up only to see her enemy charging at her with a pole made out of ice. Keine could only hold up her hand to defend herself as Cirno smashed the pole into her face. While the pole shattered, it had enough force to further drive Keine away, causing her to tumble into a tree. A dazed Keine tried to regain control of her limbs only for Cirno to fly into her, headfirst.

Cirno smashed herself right into Keine's head, teeth gritted. To Cirno, it sounded like a old bell being hit with a wooden hammer. Even with her thick head from years of perfecting headbutts, Keine could only let out a silent gasp before passing out.

"I win." Cirno heaved out as she pulled herself away from Keine and before passing out as well.

Two figures waiting in the dark shadows of the nearby trees departed together. The small figure lifted her hand up and the tall figure clasped it.


	18. Wake Up And Read A Book

Cirno knew that she had fallen asleep…she just didn't know when she decided to fall asleep or how. Whatever the reason, her head felt like someone opened it up and licked the sweet chocolate center. Even her slumber felt like someone continued to lick away at her brain. In fact, she anticipated being awoken by one of Reimu's patented attacks…

…but rather, a gentle hand laying on her shoulder and giving her a nice nudge. Cirno didn't stir for a bit, until the hand nudged her again with a little more force behind it now. She slowly opened her eyes, as fast as she could with the intense pain rocking her mind, and saw the pleasant smile of Suika looking at her. Once Cirno could identify the blur as Suika, the oni let out a happy sigh and turned away to shout, "She's up!"

"Coming, coming." Reimu sighed from a different room. Cirno turned her head around, identifying the room as the Hakurei Shrine's bedroom. Turning her head towards the door, she saw Reimu shuffle in with Chen running in. Reimu carried with her a bucket of streaming hot water, with a few towels soaking in it. She bent down next to Cirno and removed the dry towel to replace it with a nice and warm one. Cirno let out a little moan as she could feel her forehead getting incredibly warm but as it rolled over her, she let out a gentle sigh of relief.

"So…did I win?" Cirno moaned out, turning to Chen.

"Y-yeah!" Chen got out. "You beat Keine in her super form! All the kids saw it, and now it's the only thing they're talking about!" Chen threw up her arms to show big the whole deal is. "Like, holy shit!"

"Language." Calmly barked Ran from the other room.

"Sorry." Chen muttered pathetically. "But yes, everyone is saying you beat Keine in a battle. You fell unconscious only seconds later, so it's still your victory."

"Yeah, there might be a point of contention once she wakes up." Reimu pointed over to the opposite side of the room. Cirno had to actually turn on her side to see what Reimu was pointing to. And what she did see made her head smarm with incredible pain. The normal Keine laid on a cot, completely still but breathing. Her head had been covered in bandages; leaving only her mouth, nose, and eyes exposed. "You broke a few bones in her face during the fight." Reimu filled in. "What did you do to her?"

"She headbutted her!" Chen got all excited and her body became all energetic. She then started to imitate the fight by first starting with the part of Cirno and Keine crashing into the ground as a giant iceblock; she did this by throwing herself into the ground. "Cirno smashed Keine straight into the ground! POW! As Keine was all busy trying to find her marbles, Cirno rammed into her! WHAM! With a hammer made out of ice! And Keine flew into a tree! And then! AND THEN!"

"Breathe." Ran echoed.

Chen took in a several deep breaths, managing to reduce her blue face back to a more healthy color. "And then Cirno defeated the heabutt champion at her own game!"

"And then Cirno fell down dead." Reimu cleared her throat.

"I did die?" Cirno reached her hands up and patted herself. "Shoot…I DID die!"

"But hey! You beat her regardless of how you finish the fight!" Chen cheered. "And we got to skip class because of you!"

"Speaking of which…" Reimu and Suika huddled close to each other before speaking in unison. "…you're grounded!"

"Why?" Cirno choked out.

"Because you started a fight at school and then beat up your teacher." Suika patted Cirno on the head. "Not a good thing to do."

"You can't leave the Hakurei Shrine unless you're going to class or the bath-house with a escort." Reimu scolded. "And that means you can't play outside."

"Okay." Cirno breathed out. "That's I've been doing, so no biggie."

"And no dessert for a week." Suika chimed in. She paused for a second as Cirno's face tensed up. "And if you curse, it's another week." Cirno heaved out a long breath. "And if you curse under your breath, I will hear it and I'll ground you longer." Cirno let out a low moan and laid down again. "Parenting is easy work." Suika commented to herself.

"Cirno wouldn't learn anything instantly or without a great amount of aggression." Sighed a familiar voice coming outside the shrine. The sound of footsteps got louder as someone walked inside and towards the bedroom. Kasen poked her head through the doorway. "Trust me on this one."

"Kasen?" Cirno asked weakly.

"I heard about the fight." Kasen started as she walked in. "Its sounds like you actually took up my advice and used your powers for other purposes than just directly attacking. You might actually be improving." She got her congratulations before moving to: "And you go around beating up your teacher and ruining other children's learning experience. You misused your power…something I feared you would do."

"Keine's a bully." Cirno retorted. "She's mean to everyone and making them do really hard work…"

"Hmm." Kasen grunted. "Interesting." She repeated herself as she approached the still slumbering Keine. "Interesting." Kasen gave Keine a good look over before turning towards Reimu. "Tell me. Is Keine missing anyone in her life? Anyone among the group of mysterious vanishing people?"

"Well…" Reimu clapped her hands together as she tried to think of the people who vanished without trying to go back and look at the chapter with the list. "…most of the people who vanished are youkai, and she's not too keen on them. I think she's close with Eiki…but really, the closest person would be Kaguya…"

"What about Mokou?" Suika piped up. "Is she missing?"

"Would be hard to tell." Reimu thought out loud. "The Bamboo Forest is a place where people don't return. It's literally called the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. She could have vanished and we don't know."

"Only one way to find out." Kasen bent down and shook Keine by the shoulder. Keine stirred, murmured and opened her eyes. "If you attempt to attack anyone in this room, I will smash your head into the floor." She threatened Keine as the teached eyeballed Cirno.

"Don't. Please." Reimu begged. "We don't need holes in our bedroom."

"What happened?" Keine groaned as she reached a hand up to feel her smarming head, only her hand to bounce back after feeling all the bandages wrapped around her head. "Did she did do this…" She trailed off while looking right at Cirno.

"Yeah, she smashed you into the ground, smashed you in the face, and finally headbutted you." Chen unapologetically explained. Keine let out a low hiss as she stared Cirno down.

"Tell me." Kasen grabbed Keine by the head and forced her to turn towards Kasen. "Are you missing someone? Are you missing Mokou?"

Keine didn't change from angry expression. She did explain. "Yes. Mokou has been gone for several months. And I admit, I have been rather curt lately…but that doesn't excuse…"

"It doesn't excuse Cirno's behavior, yes." Kasen interrupted. "However, it doesn't excuse your current attitude." Keine growled but Kasne decided the best course of action is to slap Keine. "You have lost. While the circumstances of the fight are crude…you still lost the battle. Don't be a sore loser now." Kasen wagged a finger in Keine's face as she rubbed the incredibly sore spot that is her entire head.

"Good old Kasen." Suika gulped. She turned towards the others and added, "This was how she was most of the time when we were together…" Seeing everyone's odd expression at that statement Suika had to add in one more thing, "Not like that! It's something else…"

"Why do you care about her vanishing now?" Keine snapped in a louder tone than before. "Did someone close to you vanish and now you decide to look into it? Oh, so nice that you included Mokou! Incident solver MY ASS!" She bellowed right at Reimu. Reimu tensed up right before Kasen once more brought her open palm down on Keine's cheek and gave quick two strikes. "Stop it!" Keine shrieked.

"No." Kasen let out a inappropriate sigh before smacking Keine once more. "You need to learn…"

"That's enough." Cirno breathed out. Everyone stopped and turned towards her, all surprised. "She's been through enough. Just let her rest."Kasen turned away from Keine, still holding her head. "Let her rest." Cirno asked again with more force in her tone. Kasen had no reason to listen to the fairy she saw as weak, but she did so, letting Keine fall backwards. Keine went still again, but the sounds of her starting to sob quickly filled the awkward silence that hanged in the air. Kasen didn't want to apologize and went to go and stand in the doorway. Reimu and Suika just stood still and looked down, Chen wringed her hands and Cirno laid back down.

"I'll go make and something for you Cirno." Suika spoke up before exiting. Reimu also departed, but didn't say anything to anyone. She did give a powerful glare to Kasen as she passed by her. Chen sat down next to Cirno and remained there. Keine continued to cry to herself; though nobody knew if she were crying about her lost battle, her lost friend…

This silence hung around for a good two minutes. It was only broken when someone knocked on the door of the shrine. Reimu breathed out something sarcastic around the lines of 'sure, come in everyone just walks in here' and 'oh geeze, someone actually bothered to knock?' before she opened the door for the guest. "Ah!" Reimu actually took a step back in surprise. "Lady Yuyuko?"

"I heard the news." Yuyuko started as she hid her mouth with her trademark fan. "Cirno fought and defeated Keine, correct?"

"Uh, yes." Reimu sighed, already getting tired of hearing about Cirno's victory. "She's resting now."

"Ah." Yuyuko sighed. "May I see her? I wish to tell her something."

"Okay." Reimu shook her head and passed into the hall to let Yuyuko in. Yuyuko kept the fan up as she calmly walked into the shrine and down the hall to the bedroom. She even knocked on the sliding door into the bedroom to await for permission to go in. Reimu rolled her head and cleared her throat before saying, "Go in." Reimu wasn't too surprised to hear Yuyuko let out a small giggle before entering.

"Oh!" Chen sat up. "Lady Yuyuko."

"Yes, it is I." Yuyuko got out before she floated over to a nearby chair and sat down. "Is Cirno up?"

"Let me see." Chen went over and rapidly shook Cirno like a frustrated choreboy trying to open a garbage bag. "HEY! YOUR FUTURE WIFE IS HERE!" Cirno let out a choked moan before opening her eyes and leaning up. "I'll leave you two to it." Chen clicked her tongue before hopping out the door and closing the door.

"Hello Cirno." Yuyuko greeted. Once Cirno identified that Yuyuko was indeed in a room, she shot up out of the cot and went wide-eyed after landing. "I heard about your victory over Keine in her most powerful form. I also came to tell you something…"

"She's in the room, right next to you." Cirno actually managed to talk with her crush in the room. Yuyuko looked to her left and noticed the heap of Keine huddled into a corner. Keine had stopped crying and went to asleep. Yuyuko patted Keine on the head to say 'no hard feelings'.

"The real reason I came here today is to tell you something important relating to the missing people." Yuyuko slowly fanned herself. "It came to me while I was working on a poem. There's a certain key fact that all the people missing share."

"Really?" Cirno tilted her head. "What's the connection?"

"Information." Yuyuko sighed. "It's information."

"Yeah, can I know?" Cirno honestly asked.

"No, the detail is literally information." Yuyuko sighed. "Reimu, Suika? Come here." She announced out loud. Like servants, the two walked into the bedroom. "Listen well. What connects the missing people is 'information'." Reimu and Suika looked at each other, a bit confused.

So Yuyuko started to list the details. "Patchouli is a librarian and therefore could locate the information in the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library. There's bound to be a book that could explain what happened. Kaguya and Mokou have literal years of experience…while that also applies to Eirin, her reputation as a healer would ensure that she would missed instantly. Aya is a reporter…"

"A annoying one."

"Hush Reimu." Yuyuko raised the tone in her voice. "Aya could find information fairly easy…and not many people care for her newspaper or for her. Hatate's newspaper is always behind in information, and therefore she's not important to the person or people responsible. Eiki is a judge of the dead and she would know everything about anyone, given her task is to decree where the dead shall go for their afterlife. Kanako, Suwako, and Yukari are all old gods…there's other gods sure, but those two have been around for a long time…and Kanako and Yukari are known for plotting…"

"So if they knew what's going on, they could stop it." Reimu summarized.

"True." Yuyuko nodded. "Satori had to be taken as well, she can read minds after all. Hieda never forgets anything and has the entire record of Gensokyo's history on hand. Narzin could find anything, including information. And Sumireko can use her psychic powers and her access to the outside world…" Yuyuko lowered her fan to reveal her very neutral lips. "…as you see, the person, people or thing behind this is after 'information'. Possibly the elimination of key information relating to the thing responsible…or something far bigger."

"Then why Marisa and Alice were taken?" Reimu asked. "Marisa isn't the smartest tool in the shed…"

"Marisa and Alice were magicians and were well-acquainted with Patchouli." Yuyuko summed up. "They could have found what the perpetrators were trying to hide or were just nearby…"

"Then…what could be bigger than this?" Reimu groaned. "What…the complete elimination of all knowledge?"

"Possibly." Yuyuko stated. "That's just it. We have no 'information' to go on after all. They could have already won and we will never know."

The room went quiet as everyone processed this. So much to take it in at once. While a almost impossible thing to consider….this wasn't out of the ordinary for this land. Who could have done it? Anyone with a great deal of power could have done so; kidnapping all the people, breaking communication throughout the land…

"Why didn't they take me?" Keine asked, getting up. She wiped her eyes and sniffled. "I can devour history, make it vanish. And when I transform, I can create history. Why not take me?"

"What's the point?" Yuyuko huffed out. "Your power just hides history, it doesn't destroy it. The ones responsible already have done just that…without you. They deemed you inconsequential to the plan set forward."

"Then let me help you!" Keine suddenly shouted. "Let me uncover the missing truth for you! I can help you!"

"Not in your current state." Kasen called out from another room.

"I can!" Keine protested. "Just point me in the direction of something missing…and I'll uncover it!"

"Why not?" Cirno rolled her neck. "We need all help we can get. And there's still plenty of missing people…"

"Sure." Reimu threw up her hands. "But before we do that!" She had to raise her voice to prevent Cirno and Keine from getting up and injuring themselves. "We need to prepare. I'm going to go and tell Marisa. You two…stay here and rest." She held up a hand like she was keeping a dog at bay. "Chen, Suika. Make sure these idiots don't run off." Reimu continued to hold her hand out until she left the room. "Feel free to help out Yuyuko!" Reimu cried out before she ran outside. "And don't kill anyone Kasen!"

"Oh!" Suika snapped her fingers. "The food might burn!" She too ran off, leaving Yuyuko and Chen to take care of the injured idiots.

"Go-fish?" Chen pulled a pack of cards out of one of her gaps.

"I prefer goldfish, but sure." Yuyuko giggled before dragging a small table perfect for card games and placing it inbetween the two. Cirno and Keine laid down and closed their eyes to have a quick nap; wanting to avoid confrontation for now. Kasen opted to stay until Suika finished the meal; she found herself really liking Suika's cooking as of recently.

For now, this would be the normal. After this, things would be nothing but hectic from here on out…


	19. Falling Short

For all of the things that had changed in Gensokyo just recently, Reimu could at least be thankful that the winding forest path to Marisa's home remained the same. The blooming flowers and trees accompanied with the sound of a running creek made for a pleasant journey, but Reimu's mind remained back at the shrine.

Yuyuko just dumped a ton of important information on them. Yes, she had a habit of doing just that…but usually she did so in her usual odd manner. No riddles, no analogs to food, no weird mention to the sides…just a straightforward explanation to the events that occurred. Reimu felt paranoid, as well she felt justified in feeling so. Yuyuko did appear at the shrine before, and while it was Youmu who brought up the missing people, the only reason Youmu even came to the shrine is because Yuyuko wanted to go there in the first place. Did Yuyuko have a hand in this weird affair?

Reimu shelved her conspiracy theory for now as she approached the usual ivy-coated cottage of Marisa. Reimu expected to smell something burning; like wood, chemicals or hair, but the air smelt clear. No big stacks of smoke coming out of the chimney as well. And while the lawn looked to be uncut, which is a given as it laid in the middle of a wild forest, there's no junk just lying around. As Reimu approached the front door, she wondered what random item that Marisa 'borrowed' will fall on her once she entered.

But another surprise awaited her once Marisa opened the door. The place looked _clean_. There's walking room. Like, she could see the walls and even the floor! The place had windows? Reimu never knew! She almost wanted to outright congratulate Marisa for cleaning up, but Reimu needed to get the ball rolling.

"Hey Marisa, we got a incident on our hands." Reimu started.

"Who's we?" Marisa pointed back and forth between her and Reimu, sounding honestly confused.

"Listen." Reimu interrupted. "Someone, something, whatever, is kidnapping people with information. We don't know what the end goal is yet, but we need to start searching. I think we should head into the underworld and go and find Koishi, she might be able to lead us in the right direction. Hopefully. As long as it's friendly Koishi and not serial killer Koishi…"

"Why should we talk with a youkai?" Marisa snarled. "As a shrine maiden, can't you divine a answer and locate the threat?"

"…I can't do that…" Reimu shook her head, getting suspicious. "We could locate a fortune teller to help us then…perhaps we could call upon Byakuren or Miko…"

"What kind of shrine maiden are you?" Marisa again snarled. "Aren't you supposed to be defending humanity from the various supernatural threats? Why are you relying on them to solve your problems?"

"Because right now, I have no clue as to where I need to go and who to take down to resolve this situation." Reimu protested. "And I shouldn't go around stepping on everyone's toes when they could help us…"

"Go away." Marisa groaned and turned away. "Let yourself out and close the door behind you."

"Marisa, I could really use your help!" Reimu pleaded. "It doesn't feel right to go on this sort of adventure without you. Sanae is in a pissy mood, and I don't think I can wrangle Sakuya or Reisen away…"

"You deaf?" Marisa roared out as she turned back towards Reimu, pushing her back with both hands. "Get out! I don't want you around."

"What's going on?" Reimu's patience wore off and she shouted back at Marisa.

"You're clearly a sham!" Marisa walked towards Reimu with clenched fists. "A shrine maiden in cahoots with the youkai! You're a traitor to your own kind!"

"Marisa!" Reimu snapped. "You _married_ a youkai!"

"Alice isn't a youkai!" Marisa half laughed, half shouted. "How dare you! You're really scum!"

"Alice isn't a human anymore you idiot!" Reimu got onto Marisa's volume level. "You know this!"

"Not only are you a traitor, but also a complete idiot!" Marisa groaned out loud before turning towards the staircase. "Hey! Alice! Come down here for a second! That stupid shrine maiden is here and she wouldn't leave."

"And you want a pregnant lady to come and help you?" Alice joked, a rare sliver of humor in this household. The sounds of someone taking slow steps down the stairs got louder and louder until Alice could be seen in person. "Now, what does the shrine maiden want from us?"

"She thinks…" Marisa turned and helped Alice down the last few steps of the stairs. "She thinks that you're a youkai."

"Me?" Alice suppressed a giggle. "A youkai? I'm a human…"

"A magician youkai, formally human!" Reimu reminded with a boom.

"That's insane!" Alice now couldn't keep her laughter down.

"I think she's conspiring with the youkai." Marisa did let out a small giggle, but kept it small and hidden behind a grimace. "You planning on attacking a human village? Might as well go ahead and tell me your plans, make it easier on 'ya."

"I'm not planning on anything…" Reimu had to stop herself; arguing with these two wouldn't lead to anything. "…okay, fine. I'll leave you alone." She turned and waved good-bye as she headed towards the door. As she opened it, something came whistling through the air, and a capped pen smacked her in the head. Reimu wanted to turn around with a demonic glare, but that would only incite Marisa more. Reimu calmly opened the door and kept her anger down enough to easily close the door behind her.

Reimu almost burst into tears. What's going on? Why did Marisa act so cruel towards her? How did both Marisa and Alice both forgot so much? When did this happen? Where did they come back from? Reimu kicked a nearby tree out of anger as she ran out of the forest and back towards the shrine.

Good. She's distracted. Now for the next part.


	20. Up Into More Plot

Cirno already felt pretty bored. And once she thought of the shrine to be a place of adventure, given how pretty much all of the incidents in some weird way started here. The place had mystery: just who is the mysterious Hakurei God and what other deep, dark, forbidden secrets did this place hold? The shrine had a certain element of romance in it as well…given how many loves were formed here. Reimu and Suika, Cirno and Yuyuko…as far as she was aware that's enough.

But now? In front of her is crowned go-fish champion Chen standing trumpihantly over Yuyuko and Kasen, Keine muttering to herself in the corner and Suika talking to her gourd of booze. The Hakurei Shrine had become a clown house.

In the eyes of the people of Gensokyo and the shrine maiden who lived here, it already is.

"Can I do anything fun?" Cirno whined.

"You can join them." Suika pointed over to Chen making grabby hands towards Kasen's belt. Kasen rather reluctantly handed it over. "Don't offer anything you can't afford to buy again or something you'll need tomorrow." Suika lifted up her gourd. "Old drunkard proverb."

"No thanks." Cirno sighed. "I'm not feeling…" Cirno let out a gulp as Chen juggled three bags full of Kasen's money in the air. "…lucky today."

"Suit yourself." Suika shrugged. "I best go and wrap the stuff up for later." She got wobbly got up and returned the kitchen.

Cirno breathed out of her nose. She figured she wouldn't bored this quickly! It only had been a few hours since she woke up. And she had to go a week without dessert…and she just realized that neither Reimu nor Suika bothered to mention how long she's grounded for. Same as her loss of dessert privileges or longer? Cirno sat cross-longed with her arms crossed; her thinking pose. Exhaling some hot breath, she considered what she could do…

"What are you thinking about?"

The voice cooing into Cirno's ear made the fairy jump. Yuyuko had floated over to Cirno's side. Once Cirno crash-landed she attempted to speak: "Gah! Lady Yuyuko…"

"I'll wager you were thinking about how to escape the shrine under the cover of night!" Yuyuko snapped her fingers. Cirno shook her head. "Ah." Yuyuko made her fan appear and hid her slight smile behind it. "But I can imagine you were pondering something around the same line of thought."

"What can I do while I'm trapped inside the house for at least a week?" Cirno groaned.

"I can bring you some games." Yuyuko offered. "From board games to cards." Yuyuko flashed a look over to Chen, currently being shook by the legs by a furious Kasen. "All done for fun instead of one's amusement."

"Will Reimu and Suika allow me to have guests tho'?" Cirno wondered out loud.

"Hey Suika!" Yuyuko called out. "Is it okay for Cirno to have guests over?"

"As long as they invite her to play outside." Suika called from the kitchen.

"It's settled." Yuyuko chirped as she started to fan herself. "I shall come over and keep you entertained. And it will be a good way for us to develop our bond." Yuyuko sighed as she put down her fan. "Imagine all the fun things we can do…"

"Yeah!" Cirno gulped.

Yuyuko attempted to open her mouth to say something, but a quick quake shook the area, making everyone stop what they were doing. Before someone could even ask what that was, another quake hit the shrine grounds, this one far more violent. Kasen ended up dropping Chen to the ground as she went down as well. And then quake continued. The entire shrine shook and threatened to cave in on it's self. "Wwwhhhaattt…." Cirno vibrated out as she held onto a nearby pillar for support.

"We're being lifted up into the sky!" Kasen declared, who started to float above the shaking ground.

"Aaaagggggaaaiiiinnnn….wwwwwhhhhhaaaaaatttttt…." Cirno repeated as she continued to hold onto the pillar.

Yuyuko floated out of the bedroom and down into the hall. A heavily drunk Suika had become a rotating ball in the air while giggling passed by Yuyuko as she made her way to the nearest exit.

As she stepped outside, the first she noticed were the giant cloud standing in front of them.

As Yuyuko looked around, she noticed that the ground around the shrine had been uprooted from the ground and sent flying into the sky above. All but the gate and the stairs had been taken. Yuyuko outright gasped at the sight before her. And the flying shrine only continued to rise up into the sky with alarming speed. Despite her being a ethereal being, Yuyuko still latched two of her hands on two pillars in a fit of panic.

But it did stop ascending eventually and rather suddenly. Yuyuko and everyone on the flying island got thrown upward before crashing hard down onto the ground.

"What happened?" Chen moaned.

"Like I said, we got lifted into the sky." Kasen retold. "But for what reason or how, I cannot tell you yet."

Everyone joined Yuyuko outside. They all stared at the sky and clouds completely surrounding them. At least the sun laid behind them, as being this close would have blinded or fried them. Chen walked off the shrine and landed on the somewhat solid ground. Her knees quivered but the ground remained stable. "Okay, this is pretty freaky…"

"Indeed, but of what consequence?" Kasen mused. "We all can fly…while it is annoying, even more so for those who live here…it's not like we're stuck here."

"But you are!" A voice called out from above them. So the group looked up and noticed a shadow descending, or rather rocketing, towards them. They cleared out away as the figure crashed into the overhang and crushed the wooden steps. "If you leave this island I created, it will crash into the ground below! Destroying everything on the island and around it as it lands!"

"Who are you?" Asked Kasen as she raised her hands to ready to fight.

"You may call me…" Started the figure as she climbed out of the hole in the floor she made. "Tsubasa Jodan!" The figure was a tall woman in a sky blue dress with a giant thick leather apron going all the way down to her knees. "But most people call me Jordan."

"Why did you do this?" Suika piped up, sounding legitimately offended. "And why shouldn't I use my powers to fix this mess?"

"Because Ms. Deva…" Tsubasa wagged a finger in the oni's face. Suika took a step back out of surprise. "…if you attempt to do anything to this island, it will crash land! Even if you attempt to pick it up while in your giant form and gently put it down, it will become so heavy you will end up dropping it!"

"What kind of magic is this?" Yuyuko asked.

"Gravity and air!" Tsubasa held up the same finger into the air. "You see, I'm starting a collection! I plan on collecting a bunch of famous landmarks here in Gensokyo and turning them into flying islands!"

"But pretty much everyone in Gensokyo can fly." Kasen repeated. "There's nothing stopping them from flying up. Again, not so much a threat as is it a annoyance…."

"I plan on charging people tho'." Tsubasa continued to conduct the invisible orchestra. "Pay me to look at your landmarks or I'll drop them on top of a human village."

"You wouldn't dare!" Keine declared.

"Actually, I'm already considering doing it right now." Tsubasa yawned with one finger. Seemed she really liked using that finger. "If you're going to be this rude to me, I might as well treat you like how you treated me." She snapped her thumb against her favorite index finger and the island started to sink. "You want to apologize?" The heroes quickly their hands and shot out multiple apologizes. Not out of the fear of falling but more so they feared the wrath of Reimu as Tsubasa would most likely vanish and leave the group to be blamed for the shrine's destruction. Tsubasa snapped her fingers again and the island stopped descending.

"Alright, what do you want us to do?" Kasen asked, a bit exasperated. "Give you money? If you know who Suika is, then you know that the Hakurei Shrine doesn't have much money…"

"To tell you the truth?" Tsubasa cocked her head, turning away from the group. "I got asked by a very powerful being to screw around with you folks. Keep you from interfering with something happening back on the ground." Tsubasa shrugged. "Don't know who, don't know why, don't care!" Tsubasa raised her favorite finger. "You know…"

Kasen shot forward with a fist rocketing right at Tsubasa's head. A sudden gust of wind picked up and tossed her upward. Kasen spiraled around and landed on her face in front of Tsubasa. Tsubasa walked forward and placed her booted foot on top of Kasen's head. "Nice try, but you have to wait your turn."

"Turn?" Kasen grunted out between folded lips.

"I wait to battle each and every one of you." Tsubasa flipped around in midair to point her finger at the group. "One at a time. You act out of line and I'll plunge this island into the nearest mountain top." She imitated the shrine falling with a fist falling towards a flat palm pointed up while whistling. When the fist reached the spear-hand, Tsubasa wrapped her fist around it to make her point. "Other than that, there are no other rules besides to win against me."

"You sound confident." Yuyuko summed up. "You're staring two final bosses you know."

"Please." Tsubasa faked a yawn. "A meek final boss who became a 1st boss. And Suika…" Tsubasa giggled, hiding a secret." Most of you aren't that tough. I decide who fights me first. So…" Tsubasa picked up her favorite finger and trailed it around the group. "Ah, what the hell? Suika, step up."

Suika, putting on a serious face worthy of a bland action star, stepped forward. Tsubasa clapped before saying. "Remember, no one step in. Don't even help her up to her feet." Suika breathed out of her nose as she firmly went into a fighting stance. Tsubasa did a tiny hop and started to float with a noticeable cushion of air appearing under her.

Cirno realized she got little to do this chapter, despite her name being in the title. Hopefully she would be able to fight the new villain.


	21. The Beast Growls

Reimu couldn't believe it. She could feel her brain literally starting to break into pieces.

Gone were not only her best friend but also now her entire place of residence and work! Her home, belongings, her friends, her wife and her donation box had been taken! Reimu started to babble some nonsense out of her growing madness as she held her head in agony. She looked towards the sky but couldn't see anything besides a thick collection of clouds. Who could have done this? And how so fast? She had only been gone a hour! Its moments like this she almost wished that Yukari would just appear and toy with her before giving some decent advice. But she's gone. And so is her best friend Yuyuko! Man, Youmu is going to be pissed…

What's her next plan? Reimu paced around the crater where her shrine used to remain. Who can help her? Most of the people that could help her had been taken for their 'information'…wait, is that why they were taken? This is what it all lead to? The abduction of her home? She then let out a long and wavering groan into the sky, echoing into the forest.

Okay, okay. Reimu tried to take as many breaths as possible to calm herself. She could still get some help. While Sanae is out due to her becoming a huge jerk, Sakuya might be more approachable. While Patchouli might be missing, Sakuya wouldn't be as affected. Besides…Sakuya might also be able to arrange for Reimu to live in a guest room until they could find and reclaim the shrine. But that lead Reimu to a crossroads. She had some pocket money on her so she could afford a night in a inn. So, spend money or survive a night at the place called the Scarlet Devil Mansion?

Reimu flew off in the direction of the red mansion.

She landed in front of the gate. As usual, Mei-Ling stood to the left pillar, her eyes shut and snoring. Reimu shook her head. You think by now the people running the mansion would have chosen someone not sleep-deprived to watch the gate to the place. Or at least Mei-Ling would have tried to fix her problem to salvage her reputation.

Reimu went over to the open the door only for a hand to stop her. "Hold on." Mei-Ling spoke with her eyes still closed. "You think I'm sleeping? Geez, you're gullible."

"I…ummm…" Reimu choked out.

"Relax." Mei-Ling broke her hold. "You look like you seen a entire legion of ghosts. The grim reaper got lazy again?" Mei-Ling added with a small laugh.

"No, but I need to see Sakuya." Reimu asked. "It's important…not as important as Gensokyo exploding, but it's important. Please?" Reimu patted her hands together.

Mei-ling shrugged. "Sure, as long as you don't steal anything." Mei-Ling patted the gate and it swung open. Reimu quickly ran in, without even waving good-bye to Mei-Ling. Mei-Ling huffed and went back to sleep. "Jerk." Mei-Ling mused under her breath.

Reimu went through the front door and walked right into the red-carpeted foyer. But there seemed to be a layer of dust covering everything, from the stair banisters, to the paintings of Remilia, even on the decorative tables on the sides of the stairs; a obvious place where a maid would dust first. Looks like Sakuya had gotten lazy. Reimu took a right and headed in the direction of the library. She figured it would be a good place to start. Sakuya could anywhere, but Reimu figured she would run into someone at the library. Patchouli might be gone, but someone had to take care of her library. The last time Patchouli went on a vacation and came back to find her library dusty…it didn't end well for anyone nearby. Even Marisa couldn't escape in time.

The library still kept it quiet and foreboding atmosphere even with it's caretaker gone. Reimu had the sense that if she touched even one of the books on the shelves, she might get a good read out of it in exchange for a few of her fingers. Hopefully her stay here wouldn't be long, she hate to actually consider the exchange if she got bored.

It didn't take her long to run into Patchouli's assistant, the red haired devil. "Koakuma?" Reimu asked. "Sorry to bother you, but do know where Sakuya is?"

"…with Lady Remiliia in her room." Koakuma wheezed out. Getting a good look at the youkai's face, she clearly looked to be a bit drained. She appeared to be twice as old as she should be. Reimu almost expected for Koakuma to attack and drain her blood or at least tell her to beat it, but Koakuma went about her business ordering books on the shelves.

Reimu remembered the way to the master's room. Up two flights of stairs and straight onto the back of the house. The hall leading to the room had it the worst. Dust piles lined the area between the carpet to the wall all the way down the hall. Paint started to peel down the walls and a painting of Remilia laid on the floor with a big noticeable gash going down the left side of the portrait. The doors leading into the room proper looked fine, but Reimu recognized that someone had to recently rehinge the door.

"Go away shrine maiden." A chilling voice called out from inside the room. "I'm in no mood to deal with you today."

"I'm here to see Sakuya." Reimu asked.

"She's not available." The voice sneered out. "You will remove yourself from the premises immediately."

"Let me make a offer then." Reimu sighed. She had figured that she would have to convince them to help her. "Just let me talk with Sakuya. It's important."

"You have five minutes." The voice boomed. "Then…you'll leave."

A click resounded from the door. Reimu took it as a signal to enter the room, which she did so with a slow and steady pace. The usual dark room had a more silent aura to it, one so strong that Reimu felt she was stepping into the void itself. At the far end of the room laid two figures sitting in the shadows; one lying in a disheveled bed and the other one standing over the figure in the bed. "It's not polite to stare." The figure in the bed coughed out, despite Reimu having only taken one look at her.

"What happened?" Reimu asked, actually feeling a bit worried about Remilia.

"Do." Remilia in bed barked, as a shadowy aura formed around her. "Not. Discuss. It."

"I will explain outside, away from your ears Mistress." Sakuya said as she stepped up and into some light. Sakuya looked drained as well, not as much as Koakuma but still noticeable. The stretched skin on her face made her look twenty years older. "Follow me, Shrine Maiden." Sakuya beckoned and went out the room, with Reimu joining her.

"What happened?" Reimu asked as soon as Sakuya closed the door behind them.

"The vanishing of Maiden Patchouli left a impact on the mistress." Sakuya started to explain. "We tried our best to keep her happy and content, but she continued to become more and more depressed. And as she became melancholy…it spread to us." Sakuya sighed. "She started to drain us, as you can tell." Sakuya rolled up a sleeve to show that her arms had little muscle and fat on them. Looked like a twig. "I'm not too versed on vampire biology…but I believe that Mistress Remilia has extended a powerful aura around the mansion."

"So it's not safe to live here." Reimu sighed.

"Live here?" Sakuya asked as she turned her head. "I'm guessing something has happened to the Hakurei Shrine…again."

"Someone has taken it." Reimu breathed out. "Literally plucked it right out of the ground. I come here either to live or to get help in recovering my home." Reimu held out a hand. "Can I ask you for your assistance in helping me find my shrine? Looks like you're pretty busy…"

"No, I need to get out." Sakuya coughed out. "Remilia will be fine."

Reimu felt a bit off-put. The old Sakuya would never leave the mansion unless someone or something threatened the mansion or generally annoyed Mistress Remilia. And for the most part, Sakuya didn't do much socialization and would be generally defined as a workaholic. And now…she's more than happy to join up with Reimu to investigate a incident.

"Alright…" Reimu got out. "I'll fill you in…and the good news is that it might mean Patchouli's return!"

"That would be nice." Sakuya grumbled as she checked over one of her knives. "So, what's going on?"

Reimu breathed out. "It's a long story…"

"Like how many chapters?"

"Twenty-plus…I can skip a few chapters as they're fillers to develop characters and do some world-building. That…and I wasn't present for a lot of things…"

"The details. Just the details."

As Reimu and Sakuya walked out the mansion, it left Remilia alone in her room to brew to herself. Remilia overheard everything, from the things mentioned outside her door to as far as the outside gate. So…Patchouli was taken for the information she could have provided? It seems that the spectral mistress Yuyuko provided the answers to everything…then why hasn't she been taken? How come she knew what happened and yet still got to exist?

The vampire growled. Her teeth had become so sharp and long she had to be careful and not bite her own lip. Remilia wanted to not only drink the blood of the man responsible but to drain their very soul and leave them as a dead dry husk. No! She would first torture them. Slowly. Tear out one finger and then a toe at a time. Stick a needle in the stubs. Then she would bite into the villian's hands and feet and rip them off. Stick one of Sakuya's knives into those stubs. Proceed to the face: rip out nose, pluck out one eye to force-feed it, sow one side of the mouth shut, and! And!

The things she would do to the being that dared to kidnap her wife!


	22. Destruction

Suika often fought in a very silly manner. Before she got into a fight, she would get so tipsy that if she weren't careful with her consummation, the fight would end with her falling over completely asleep. Yuyuko had seen Suika fight before; she treated every fight like a drinking contest. The kind of drinking contest done at one of those bad guy's bars.

But the fight with the mysterious Tsubasa had a profound effect on Suika. Her lips were dry. She stood with a steady stance. And she didn't even glance at her gourd. Suika treated this incredibly seriously. Not even a smile graced her lips. The only source of comedy in this brawl came from Tsubasa, wagging her little finger to herself in thought.

"You know?" Tsubasa sighed as she tilted her head to the side. "I could end this fight immediately." She cracked her neck around, releasing any tension. "I mean, there's no point in fighting me. " Tsubasa shrugged with her head still tilted. "Hey, if you want one of your friends to go…"

Suika responded by burrowing a fist right into Tsubasa's face. Not even Keine kept up with that level of speed. As even the air got crunched by the intense pressure, Tsubasa's face caved in and once Suika pushed her fist at the fullest point, Tsubasa went rocketing into and through the floating ground. Not a quip out of Suika, only a mere grunt from exerting herself. Tsubasa floated up and stuck her head through the hole in the ground. "Nice punch!" She commented on in a giddy manner. To make matters even more disheartening to the Hakurei Shrine hostages, her face lacked any mark from the punch. "Guess I pissed you off something fierce huh?" She asked as she completely pulled herself up onto solid ground.

Suika's response was to enlarge her fists to be as twice as big as her body and pummel Tsubasa something fierce. Fist in face, fist in the stomach, fist into the shoulder blades, fist into the knees…Suika didn't let up for a single moment into destroying Tsubasa with her fists that she had hardened to be as hard as steel. Neither Suika or Tsubasa uttered any noise louder than simple grunts. Suika clapped her hands together with Tsubasa in-between, squishing the villain.

As Suika parted her hands, Tsubasa popped out, looking once again no worse for wear. "Oof!" Tsubasa shook her head. She reached into her apron's pocket and pulled out an flatten plastic bag. "Ah, my chips!" Tsubasa opened the bag and dumped the chip dust onto the ground. "I was saving that for a snack inbetween battles." She let out a sigh and balled the bag up before tossing it over her shoulder. "Alright, if I win, I want you to buy me a new bag."

"How is that possible?" Kasen wondered out loud. "Even someone as strong as Yukari would have been knocked out by that…" Yuyuko opened her mouth, but closed it. For once, she couldn't think of anything to add. Not even a odd quip.

"Will you shut up!" Suika screeched towards Tsubasa as she fired a giant red bullet at Tsubasa. For once, the enemy actually bothered to dodge. Tsubasa jumped up and swiftly landed in front of Suika, putting her hands behind her back. The oni swung her normal-sized fists around and around, but Tsubasa stood still and swiveled her hips to dodge each punch. Suika growled and launched another giant bullet. Tsubasa ran backwards, matching the bullet's speed. She then jumped over the bullet and landed right in front of Suika. Suika attempted to punch Tsubasa, but Tsubasa kicked Suika square in the face. The kick made Suika back up a bit, but not enough to stop her. Suika roared before continuing to throw her fists around.

"No one offer any advice." Tsubasa held up a flat palm to the group awaiting on the Hakurei Shrine steps. "It will break the rules and the island will fall…"

"SHUT UP!" Suika bellowed as she stomped down on the ground hard, causing Tsubasa to wobble. With her balance off, Suika launched herself forward into Tsubasa's chest. Suika grabbed Tsubasa's sides, tearing her fingers into Tsubasa's flesh to ensure that she wouldn't be able to escape. Suika leapt up with her enemy above her head before slamming Tsubasa down onto the ground. After grunting, Suika jumped up even higher and slammed down even higher. "COMPLETE MASSACRE!" Suika grunted as she flew up into the air the highest she could go with Tsubasa above her head. "ON MOUNTAIN OOE!" And with that, Suika rocketed into the ground with Tsubasa aimed down like a spear. Tsubasa hit the ground with so much force that a fiery explosion erupted all around her. The entire island shook with some of the fire managing to reach the steps of the shrine.

Kasne nudged Cirno, who looked at her mentor with a questioning look. Kasen had to nudge Cirno again and point towards the growing fire to get her to do something about. Finally getting something to do after the last few chapters, Cirno stepped up and put her hands forward. A icy wind appeared out of her palms and quickly smothered the fire, as well as covering the grass in frost.

"I think…" Suika wheezed out. "I think that's enough." As the smoke around her cleared, it clearly showed that the explosion has created a good sizeable crater that had consumed a good chunk of the stone pathway. "Reimu will kill me if I go any further." Suika sighed as she walked over the steps. "She's probably already pretty pissed about her shrine being stolen…"

"And she's not going to like you destroying her shrine."

Suika bared her fangs as she turned around to see a markless Tsubasa yawning. "Deva of the mountain? More like Deva of the local community theater." Tsubasa wagged her favorite finger. "You have to try a lot harder than that!"

"How…" Suika panted.

"I guess I should have explained this earlier." Tsubasa waved her finger around like a baton. "I mentioned before that I am a master of air and gravity, yeah?" As a small demonstration of her power, she made appear a small and visible cushion of air to which she laid down on like a sofa. "Well, the air thing is pretty obvious. Not really that special of a power." She waved her finger around as she reclined in her air sofa. "But the gravity thing?" Tsubasa jabbed her finger forward towards Suika. "You assumed I meant Newtonian psychics, didn't you?" Suika remained quiet. She had become so incensed that she refused to say anything to this…horrid woman.

"What other kind of gravity is there?" Keine asked.

"The gravity…" Tsubasa conducted the air around her with that damned finger of hers. "…of a situation!"

"That explains it!" Yuyuko exclaimed. "She has the power to turn a bad situation into something good and vice-versa!" The others turned to her, save for Suika, who's attention had been glued on Tsubasa. "By applying her power, she easily could survive any attack sent her way. Last Word spell cards became nothing more than pebbles to her!"

"Another point for the ghost princess!" Tsubasa clapped her hands. "Indeed, all of Suika's attacks would very easily defeat me…if I let them actually hurt me." She snapped her fingers as she stood up, letting the air sofa dissipate. "I lighten the 'gravity' of my current situation and I can withstand the strongest of spell cards. Now, I could do the same to you. Hit you with my strongest spell card, but lighten your situation to save you…or I could increase the 'gravity' where even a bullet the size of a pinkie's fingernail would send you across the world and back." She flashed a devastating smile. "Its also the reason you can't leave the island without it falling into the ground below like a meteor."

"But there's a limitation to this power." Yuyuko deduced out loud. "I'm guessing you can only affect the outcome of a situation, rather than affect someone directly."

"True, true." Tsubasa wagged her finger, looking away. "I can't stop you from flying, throwing bullets, or breathing…so I have to get creative to do that anyway." She dusted herself off. "So…if you want to beat me…you'll have to ask me nicely and then pay me off. I completely negate skill and luck with my powers." She pointed a finger forward. "I'm the Mercenary of Mischief for a reason!"

"I just need to distract you." Suika assumed with a snarl. "It's clear if you aren't able to focus your powers, you'll take the full blunt of every attack."

"Sorry, that's not a option." Tsubasa returned Suika's remark with more malice in her tone. "Like I said at the start, I can end this fight immediately. I already put all my attention on this fight." She balled her hands up into a tight fist. "So, you really think you can beat me? Come on then!" Tsubasa stamped both of her feet hard on the ground. "Go ahead and throw your life away!"

"You won't last!" Suika declared as she rocketed forward once again with a fist on fire.

"True." Tsubasa sighed, returning back to her normal composure. "I'll die someday." She then put on that devastating smile. "But not today…and not to you."

Tsubasa placed her right hand forward; her index finger resting on the edge of her thumb. Once Suika became close, Tsubasa flicked her finger. A powerful ripple of air tore into Suika, crushing her chest and sending her flying back twice as fast as she came forward. Suika's eyes went white as her body shut down from extreme pain. Suika went through the shrine, punching through every wall, and finally out of the back and off the far edge of the island.

"Suika!" Everyone cried out as got up to go and rescue her.

"Nobody save her!" Tsubasa declared. "She has lost, and now she is gone. Leave the island and…" Tsubasa sharply whistled as she made a fist and made 'fall down'. "Even as strong as she is, she can't survive this island crashing onto her." Everyone took a second of hesitation to try and look over the edge before returning to their places. "Good, like a bunch of school-children." Tsubasa clapped her hands. "Alright…who's next…"

"So this is it." Chen gulped, her skin becoming covered in goose bumps and a cold sweat running down her face. "This is how we all die. One by one, she'll toy with us until she kills us off." She let out a nervous laugh. "I thought I would die alongside Gensokyo's death, in a great intergalactic war, or by one of Yukari's antics…"

"She wouldn't kill you unless she could bring you back to life." Someone unfamiliar yawned from inside the shrine. "Trust me on this, she has done this before…"

"Who?" Tsubasa scrunched her nose. "Were you inside the shrine the entire time?" The normally happily-demented Tsubasa sounded a rather relaxing mixture of confusion and being offended.

Ran looked behind her to notice that not only had the shrine gained a new and incredibly noticeable hole in it, but it seemed that the shrine had moved all the way into the sky. It took her a second to respond, she seemed to be trying to learn everything that had happened after she went to take a nap. "Seems I need to stop taking those guys of naps…" She yawned again. "Appears I have taken on a old habit of my master…"

"Who are you?" Tsubasa cried out. "I asked you, who are you?"

"I am Ran Yakumo." Ran turned to face Tsubasa. "Shikigami of the Gap Youkai. Chen is my Shikigami." Ran floated over to be as close to Tsubasa as she felt safe. "I am a bit above you, sorry to say."

"Really." Tsubasa sighed, getting back some of her cool. "But doubtful." Tsubasa titled her head. "Tell you what. I'll allow you to go next. Same rules!" She shouted to the rest. "But I'll just kill you outright if you lose. Make things easier for me."

"Hmm." Ran falsely pouted. "I agree to your terms, Missus…"

"Tsubasa Jodan."

"Ms. Jodan." Ran bowed. "May this battle be well fought."

Cirno was getting tired of being reduced to being a secondary character in her own damn story. And she was getting tired of making these meta jokes. And she knew it would be a while before she got any action…


	23. Like A Fox

Tsubasa rolled her head around with a happy little sigh. "You know?" Tsubasa breathed out as she continued to roll her head to get the cricks out. "I really don't know who you are." She pointed right at Ran, still yawning. "You might be a goddess or something even beyond that…but I shouldn't worry." Tsubasa now rolled her finger around. "My power mitigates anything! Doesn't matter if you control the air we breathe, the blood in my veins, or even the forces of life and death itself! I will win!"

"If your strategy is to announce your preemptive victory, then best fight to your fullest." Ran breathed out as she put her hands in the opposite sleeves. "Unless you don't have much faith in your predictions."

"Trust me!" Tsubasa rolled her favorite finger around. "It's not really a special power to see into the future! I rather make it with my own hands!" Tsubasa rolled both of her hands around before spinning her arms around. Four giant tornados started to form around the island, rotating around them. "So let's make things even more spicy!" Tsubasa laughed out as she raised herself off the ground. "Those winds are out of my control!" She bellowed over the growing howl of the tornados. "They'll fade within a hour's time and they won't damage the island…but they will tear anyone apart that falls into them!" She folded her arms. "You like to gamble with your own life?"

"I am unable to throw my life away." Ran simply admitted. "It's not my choice. But as my master is missing, I am weaker than usual." Tsubasa titled her head with a smarmy smile. "But I doubt I will need all of my power to beat a housefly."

"A housefly!" Tsubasa roared. "Me?" She pointed at herself. "Your attempt at humor to hide your terror or your lack of power won't save you from me!" Tsubasa waved her hands and a sea of light green bullets filled the air in a attempt to drown Ran. The kitsune vanished in a blink of a eye and appeared floating above Tsubasa. Ran launched a barrage of kunai towards Tsubasa. The villain just pursed her lips and blew as she let the kunai bounce harmlessly off her.

Ran took notice of this and stopped attacking. "See!" Tsubasa clicked her fingers at Ran. "My ability will reduce any attack at me into nothing. But hey?" She mockingly shrugged. "You could try to force me into one of those tornados…" She pointed over behind her shoulder towards one of the giant tower of razor-sharp wind.

"If you can reduce a sharp kunai to a rubber toy, I doubt a tornado of that magnitude will even lift a lock of hair." Ran commented on. "So, tell me. Do you somehow control the air to reduce the impact of projectiles?"

"If you went to bed at a good time, you would have heard my explanation of my true abilities." Tsubasa went quiet only for a second before quickly raising up two fingers. A sharp upsurge of air broke the ground next to Cirno, causing her and the rest around her to jump away with wide eyes and being covered in a thick layer of goosebumps. "Nobody speak anything to her! Or maybe one of you will get a lovely opportunity to play with a tornado…."

Ran turned a eye towards Chen. Chen buttoned her lips and started to a do a series of hand signs; from a clenched fist that turned into a open palm, to a cupped hand floating around. Ran nodded and turned back towards Tsubasa. "Well then. I need to make sure I don't waste too much energy."

"Good luck!" Tsubasa cheered as she rained big red disc bullets towards Ran. Ran swiftly flew around the first wave and weaved her way safely through the second. Tsubasa followed it up by unleashing a ring of small green bullets around her. Ran slowed down and focused on getting through the ring. With Tsubasa raising her hands to shoot out more arrows, Ran decided to attack and unleash a storm of kunai right at Tsubasa.

Like before, the kunai harmlessly bounced off her body. But this did allow for Ran to suddenly appear right in front of Tsubasa and kick her right in the face. Everyone on the ground breathed out easily as the rather satisfying sound of bones crunching echoed through the air. Tsubasa rolled around in the air before being able to stop herself. "Urgh…" She held up a hand up to her nose and held it. "That hurt…"

"Thanks to non-verbal communication with my shikigami, I gained a basic understanding of your powers." Ran started to explain as she easily floated towards Tsubasa. "You are somehow able to control a situation into working towards your favor. But the thing is, and this is going by from what I have seen…you can't stop the situation from happening." Ran followed that up by pointing at Tsubasa with the same finger as Tsubasa's favorite. Tsubasa growled. "So!" Ran turned away from her opponent with her hands behind her back. "If your paycheck got picked up by the strong winds, you can change the direction of the wind so the paycheck flies back into your hand, but you can't kill the wind to make the paycheck to drop to the ground.

"Fine." Tsubasa shrugged, trying to smile and hide away her growing anger. "Yes. I can lighten the gravity of a situation to make it so I win…but I can't stop it."

"And you need to be aware of what's going and think of something to 'lighten the gravity' so to speak. If you're too slow, you will make a mistake and you will to survive."

"I'm fast!" Tsubasa growled out, showing some actual anger for once. "I control the wind itself! I control the very fabric of reality in my own special way! My weakness is nothing!"

"And that's why you can't win." Ran yawned.

"Okay, okay." Tsubasa took a quick breath to calm herself. "I'm not angry, I'm not angry…" Tsubasa repeated to herself. "I'm going to beat you, kill you as I had said before, and then I'll go back to harassing the others."

"You can beat her Ran!" Chen cheered. "Just keep kicking her in the face!"

"Now we swap from being children to being adults!" Tsubasa roared as she held up a spellcard. "Storm Sign: Galveston Disaster!" A large and thick barrage of blue bullets filled the air, shifting from side to side like a wave. Ran kept her distance and started to fire bullets straight at Tsubasa. Tsubasa let her body relax as she let the bullets harmlessly touch her body before evaporating. At least this would give her a chance to catch her breath and consider her plan of action.

Okay. Tsubasa thought. She knows HOW to beat me, but can she ACTUALLY do it?

Tsubasa knew what Ran knew. Ran will try to feint Tsubasa like last time before following it up with a powerful attack. Tsubasa grabbed her nose again, still broken, and pulled it to the right, realigning it back in place again. If Ran does pull if off, I'll won't last a second attack. Tsubasa continued in her head. I'll need to stop kidding around and beat her outright.

The tornados. Tsubasa cracked a small smile. I'll stay close to one of them. She can't pop up behind me and I can use misdirection to lead her into one. Not even someone as smart as her would be able to last a second inside one of those horrible things! Tsubasa broke off firing her spellcard and flew towards the nearest tornado. She kept herself a few feet away; the gale force had reached earthquake levels. The edges of the floating islands were slowly being chipped away. Hmm. She didn't intend for that to happen. Hopefully she would be able to actually stop it, she didn't kid when she said they were out of her control. Hopefully nobody will notice before the hour is up.

Ran took notice of Tsubasa's latest position and pulled out her own spellcard. "Banquet of 12 General Gods." She muttered as the card shined and then vanished. Twelve rings appeared around the island and fired bullets in both variations of crosses. Tsubasa once more stood still and let the bullets just bounce off her. If she didn't have the gravity power, she would have fallen into a tornado while dodging this spellcard. Did Ran lie about her being weak?

"Come on then!" Tsubasa threw a hand toward herself. "Hit me!" But Ran kept a safe distance and continued to fire off bullet after bullet. She had no intention of going any closer to her enemy. Tsubasa's plan failed. Ran was ready to fight to a stalemate if necessary. Time to switch gears.

Tsubasa looked down at the crowd of her future victims. They were cheering Ran on…and looking hopeful. She snarled at first, but that gave away to a demented smile.

Tsubasa fired off a array of big blue discs at Ran before darting towards the ruined shrine. She scooped Chen up and carried her up. Kasen and Yuyuko attempted to fire a bullet at Tsubasa's back, but a current of wind pushed them down. "Now then!" Tsubasa grunted as she held Chen down tight as the nekomata kicked and screamed. "If you think I'm just going to get bored and go home, then forget it! Now!" Tsubasa tossed Chen up for a second before snapping her fingers. Chen started to float up, being held up by a cushion of air. She floated right in front of Tsubasa. "You attempt to shoot me, you'll hit my meat shield."

"Chen!" Ran hissed under her tongue.

"She's a shikigami, she's meant to follow orders." Tsubasa wagged her favorite finger. "So order her to die to defeat me." She then crossed her arms. "So, what's it going to be? If you surrender, I'll let little Chen down easily and then I'll throw off the island. Hopefully not into one of those tornados. Or…"

"Or I can end this debacle and get some sleep." Ran gritted out of her teeth as she pulled her hands out of her combined sleeves.

"How so?" Tsubasa flashed a nasty smile at her.

"Like this."

Ran snapped her fingers hard enough for the crack to heard above the wind. A gap appeared right above Tsubasa and Chen. As Tsubasa looked up, she got sucked into the multi-eye void along with Chen before she had a chance to use her powers. Ran snapped her fingers again and a exit gap appeared next to her. Tsubasa went flailing out but as Chen had more experience with gaps, she popped out like a acrobat and landed in Ran's awaiting arms.

"No way!" Tsubasa roared out as she landed on the ground, skidding near a edge. "Only the gap youkai…!"

"I learned how during her absence." Ran explained as she landed down next to Tsubasa. "I always had some knowledge of how to pull it off, but never to any great lengths. But it seems like…"

"I will win!" Tsubasa screeched as the veins tighten. "I was paid a good amount of money to screw with you guys, and I will earn that bonus!"

"Save your breath!" Ran raised her voice to a powerful bellow, making everyone eardrums ring. "You attempted to use my family against me and you have failed! Now, tell us your employer's name. She might be connected to the disappearances!"

"How should I know?" Tsbuasa groaned as she took a step back. "I was hired out of the blue with a note and suitcase full of yen! I don't know who hired me, but I'm glad they did!" She pointed a finger straight at Ran and traced a line from her to the others gathered at the shrine's footsteps. "I find all of you to be EXTREMELY annoying! I will gain my vengeance on all of you! Even the ones I didn't fight!"

"We know the extent of your powers." Kasen stepped forward to line up with Ran. "We can develop countermeasures and easily defeat you if you come after us."

Tsubasa almost screamed her lungs in response, but she stopped herself. She took a deep calming breath, closed her eyes, took another breath, and breathed out of her mouth before talking. "Alright, listen up." Tsubasa spoke in a calm collected manner. "After the tornados dissipate, this island will travel to the mountains. I don't know what will be there, but I can imagine there will be a way to prevent your escape. I recommend following any order given without question, they will less courteous than I."

"How many more of you guys are there?" Ran asked.

"I don't know." Tsubasa got out through gritted teeth. "Again, money, note, orders. As far as I and they care, I have done my part. I'm leaving." She took another step back. "But hear me well! I will come back for my revenge. And by then, I will be in a much better mood! You better watch your back!"

"Same to you." Ran sighed.

"Like you can…" Tsubasa didn't have time to finish her sentence as she took another step back. Right onto the frozen grass that Cirno froze to put out Suika's fires. Despite the heavy winds, the ice still retained it's slipperiness. Tsubasa stepped on in the wrong way and fell over backwards…into a tornado. Tsubasa screamed and it echoed as she shot up through the funnel and out the top. Everyone watched as their enemy fell down to the earth below like a spear thrown by the atypical cartoon loser.

"I hope she falls on a tree." Chen hissed.

"Now, now." Ran lowered Chen down so she can land on her feet. "Let's not wish ill on our enemies…"

"Ran, she threw Suika through the shrine and off the island." Chen filled in.

"Hmm." Ran put her hands back into her sleeves. "In that case, wish for her not to fall on a tree but rather the entrance into hell. It's longer fall with a far sharper bottom." She yawned. "I am still tired. I will return to the shrine to nap some more…wake me when we arrive at the mountain." She bowed before floating back into the shrine.

"Hey, do you think we will able to contact Yuugi or any mountain dwellers once we arrive?" Cirno asked Kasen.

"Doubtful." Kasen shook her head as the two walked over to the shrine. "Tsubasa had plenty of power about her, but seems to be a bit player in the true villain's plans. Still, if she had much power, we can expect the others will be far more powerful…or rich enough to afford whatever they want."

"So there will be a chance for me to do something after so many chapters of just sitting on my butt doing nothing?" Cirno inquired.

"For me and the others, hopefully." Kasen sighed as she looked in the direction of the mountains. "While logic has little place in Gensokyo, I believe we are being taken by the enemy behind the vanishings. It makes sense as we just learned the true reason behind the vanishings."

"But how would they be so fast?" Chen asked as she walked up to the two. "We just learned about this morning. It's not even dinnertime yet and we're being escorted to the main villain's headquarters!"

"It's possible…" Kasen started but shook her head and stopped. "No, let's not jump to conclusions. We don't know who we are going against and we shouldn't do anything rash." She let out a deep and focused breath as she walked towards the shrine. "I'm going to try, and I stress the word 'try', to repair the shrine." She turned towards the two young youkai. "If you wish to help, it will go faster."

"Or we end up doing something horrible to it and Reimu will have a reason to kill us." Chen weakly trembled out.

"Don't worry." Kasen sighed as she leaned against a fallen pillar to the roof. "I know a little about building. Poor little shrine maiden will most likely want to return to a solid roof after this debacle."

Chen and Cirno gave each other a look before silently deciding to go help Kasen fix the place up the best they could. Yuyuko quietly retired back inside along with Keine, who more sulked back inside. All of the six remaining survivors still had a great amount of dread hanging over their heads. Suika, someone who's power is equivalent to Yukari, has been sent flying off. Hopefully, their desination had opponents not as powerful or not as dirty as Tsubasa…


	24. True Nature

Sakuya remained quiet all the way back to the crater where the shrine used to stand. While the old Sakuya didn't say much at all, she would at least engage in some small talk. Like about the flowers or the food they would come across. Reimu wanted to try and discuss the who or why behind the theft of the Hakurei Shrine, but Sakuya's eerie blank stare kept the maiden quiet.

When they arrived, Reimu noticed a significant change right away. Sure, the shrine hadn't been returned and the iconic crater remained, but lying to the north of where the shrine used to stand were a valley of broken trees. Something…or someone…had been sent flying through the woods and knocked down several trees.

"You weren't kidding." Sakuya dryly commented as she looked around. "This is the work of someone with great power indeed. Either now the shrine is a island…or has teleported to a alternate dimension." Sakuya reached down and scooped up a handful of dirt. She filtered it out, feeling the texture. "Loose…and chunky." She dropped the dirt. "Plucked. Someone did steal your shrine."

"We got something else." Reimu pointed to the fallen trees. "Someone got knocked through the forest."

"Relevant to the shrine?" Sakuya asked.

"Has to be." Reimu replied as she floated up. "Can't be a coincidence. Come on." Reimu flew off to the follow the trail of broken trees. Sakuya took a second before following her new partner.

Reimu went slowly through the broken line of trees. By the look of how the trees were shattered, someone bounced through the area. In order to actually splintered some of these old thick trees, they would have be to traveling pretty fast. But the ground in the crater looked to be undisturbered from the last she saw it…so…did someone fall off the island of her shrine?

And then something caught her eye. Something she saw everyday. Something that stood out in the forest ground.

Sakuya noticed Reimu stop short and stare at something on the right for a few seconds. Reimu slowly descended to the ground and walked towards whatever she spotted. Reimu didn't say anything and just went off alone. Sakuya followed behind slowly. As she turned, she watched as Reimu bend over and pick something up. "What did you find?" Sakuya asked with a neutral tone.

Reimu didn't say anything. She turned around and showed Sakuya what she spotted. It appeared to be a broken branch, but the color and thickness were vastly different than of the trees nearby. And the most noticeable thing about this branch is it had a white bow near the sharp tip and a purple ribbon at the midpoint.

"That's a apart of Suika's horn." Sakuya realized.

"This horn was torn off." Reimu summarized, looking at the jagged end. "Probably when she got tossed into the forest. And she had to be pretty beaten to suffer this sort of damage…" Reimu walked back into the trail of broken wood, still looking down and clutching the horn.

Reimu seemed to have become a statue. No sudden tears, no outbursts, she kept her voice to a audible if quiet level, and kept moving on with no breaks in pace or posture. A bit worried Sakuya followed shortly behind Reimu. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes of following the path before them. Sakuya couldn't think of something to say to Reimu. Something to comfort, something to deny…but how would Reimu react? She seemed to be playing the events in a slower timeframe than in the normal world.

And soon they reached the end of the little valley. Now the ground started to cave in a bit, indicating that Suika had finally stopped moving and started to skid on the ground. Reimu slowed down as the end laid in sight. A small crater…with nothing in it other than broken branches and dirt. "Suika?" Reimu whispered, looking up from the broken horn. The air remained still. "Suika?" Reimu asked in a more audible tone.

She turned around, but not to face her traveling companion. "Suika!" Reimu cried out, now sounding more urgent. Sakuya gulped down some dry air. The shrine maiden seemed to return to normal time as her eyes went wide with panic. "Suika!" Reimu shrieked out, turning around franticly. "SUIKA?!" Reimu yelled before breaking out into hysterics. "SUIKA…AAAAAHHH!" Reimu broke down onto the ground with burning tears.

Sakuya, even in her deluded state, took a step back in shock. She had never seen Reimu be so emotional in her entire life. She recalled the wedding between her and Suika; how Suika managed to remain sober until the afterparty, Yukari plastering her name everywhere to remind people that she's responsible for arranging everything, Marisa attempting to sneak off with some of the gifts, Koshi and Mamizou (Who weren't invited) trying and failing to trick Suika into getting drunk and running off with a fake Reimu…and speaking of Reimu, the normally restrained Remiu broke into tears of happiness as she and Suika finished the ceremony.

And now, with the possilibilty of Suika's de…

"It's okay." Sakuya leaned down and patted Reimu on the shoulder. "Suika is alive. She's a very powerful oni, she will be injured but she will live."

"But where?" Reimu sobbed. "She couldn't have been able to move, she lost her horn!" Sakuya couldn't help but compare Reimu right now to Remilia. Both remained mostly serious but when they went sad, they became a bawling child. At least the difference here is the severe injury and possible loss of a loved one against your sister stealing and redressing one of your dolls.

"We'll find her." Sakuya got up, slowly helping Reimu up to her feet. "We can even get Eirin to reattach the horn." Reimu slowly nodded, trying to stifle her tears. She snorted, her nostrils having become clogged. "Come on. I see some footprints…" Sakuya pointed over to said footprints near the right of the crater's end. "Let's not waste any time, no?" She gently clutched Reimu's arm and lead her in the direction of where the footprints lead.

Sakuya remained quiet while Reimu wiped her eyes. Now came the time when she needed to focus. Whatever took Suika out had to use some serious yet appropriate force. Doubtful that Suika had the ability to get up and walk away after what hit her. Reimu didn't notice it because her eyes were blinded by tears, but the footprints weren't Suika's. Someone's else…ones that Sakuya saw often leading away from open windows back at the mansion…after something had gone missing…

"Marisa?" Reimu quietly asked.

"Oh, you." Marisa grunted as she turned away from a wheelbarrow. Her annoyed expression dropped as she looked away. "Then again, it is nearby where you live, so why am I surprised?"

"Then let me ask you." Sakuya stepped forward. "Why are you here, and what's in the wheelbarrow?" Sakuya cocked her head while resting a hand on a knife. "Come here to find any loot that fell out of the shrine?"

"I'm not a thief." Marisa protested. Something she would say regardless of her current condition. "I just came here to see what happened…I did find this wheelbarrow." She stepped aside so they could get a better look at it. Indeed, it was the shrine's wheelbarrow, used by Suika to help move dirt around…and now it was being used to move Suika around.

"Suika!" Reimu cried out as she rushed forward. Sakuya put a hand in front of Reimu to block her.

"Oh right." Marisa sighed as she took one long dirty look at Suika. "Your wife. The oni wife to the shrine maiden." Marisa shrugged. "Sounds like something out of a parody novel." She pointed back to Suika. "I found her in the ground, battered, bruised, and banged pretty badly. Also missing a horn…" Marisa chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Reimu asked out through gritted teeth.

"If she got rid of both horns, she would be a normal human…"

Marisa had to immediately bound to the left as a giant rainbow-colored laser nearly collided with her. Sakuya took a deep breath, seeing how Reimu fired the laser only a few inches away from her head. The maid then pulled out a pair of knives to prepare for battle.

"Can't take a joke, huh?" Marisa muttered under her breath as she retrieved her Mini-Hakkero. "I guess if the local exterminator ain't going to do her job, I'll have to do it myself!"


	25. L'Oiseau Perdu PROLOGUE

The shrine looked…better. Saying it had seen better days would be a big old lie, the shrine hadn't had a good day since the current shrine maiden moved in. Before the changing of hands, the Hakurei Shrine used to have a nice shine to it as the previous shrine maidens used to coat all of the wooden surfaces with a high quality lacquer once every month. Since then, the shrine suffered destruction after destruction after destruction with Mrs. Ibuki doing whatever she could to keep the building standing with little success.

And now, with the efforts of Kasen and Cirno…

"We could call it a fort." Yuyuko clicked her tongue upon looking on the final result. Kasen and Cirno gave each other a weird look before turning back to the shrine. They had little material to work with; the already existing boards, the destroyed parts, and a few of the trees still hanging around after Tsubasa's attack. And yet, somehow, through their limited supplies and both's limited experience with building and fortification…had managed to make the Hakurei Shrine resemble the Matsumoto Castle in the Nagano Prefecture. Well, a scaled-down model anyway. That, and with the already peeling paint and worn-down look of the original shrine, it looked like the Matsumoto Castle done by someone using popsicle sticks and old house paint.

"You think Reimu will be happy or…" Cirno asked.

"It could go either way." Ran tilted her head, trying to see if every detail of the original castle had been captured. She came outside to watch the rebuilding as she was unable to nap with Cirno crying out in pain. "She could love it and say it makes her feel like a princess with the bonus of gathering faith and possible revenue…or hate it and kill us all."

"Provided that we survive the next challenge up ahead." Kasen looked away from the shrine and towards the eternal plains of clouds. "We have been traveling for hours. How come we haven't arrived at our destination or haven't happened upon someone?" She sighed. "Surely the Holy Palanquin Ship would be flying around to visit another human village..."

"Tsubasa probably has passive effect on this entire island of ours." Yuyuko looked around. "We are still flying despite her unfortunate encounter with one of her own tornados." She put on a small smile before changing the subject with: "Well, we could try to get something to eat while we wait for our next encounter with our secret adversary and her band of powerful minions." Yuyuko proceeded to float inside the Hakurei…Castle and straight the kitchen.

"It would be best if I cook." Ran called out, before shivering a bit while remembering the time that Yuyuko cooked a perfect cake…with extra sugar, extra eggs, extra flour, extra milk, extra baking soda, extra sweetener, extra strawberries…while not bad by any means….the Yakumo household did almost have to go and see a doctor to get their stomachs evacuated…

"Let's do some training!" Cirno chirped towards Kasen.

"Uhh…well…" Kasen pursed her lips and scratched behind her neck. "I don't have any tools or even a plan for this…"

"Let's just do a mock spell card duel then!" Cirno leapt into the air and flew towards the shrine. "Hey Chen! Get your balls, me and Kasen are going to have a mock spellcard duel! We're going to need plenty of balls!" Chen shouted back a quick okay before she joined the two outside. Chen clapped her hands twice and a gap appeared, sending the ruby red dodgeballs bouncing to the ground. "You take half and I take half!" Cirno explained as she collected the balls.

"I'm confused."

"Simple!" Cirno stated as she started to levitate the dodgeballs up using invisible clouds of frost. "Pretend these are bullets! We throw them at each other and try to dodge, just like any other duel!" Cirno got up pretty high, carrying twenty balls with her. "Ready, set, go!" Cirno called out as she launched four balls straight at Kasen, who just simply side-stepped without even really putting much thought into it.

Kasen sighed as she walked forward, stepping only slightly to the side to avoid Cirno's barrage. Didn't seem all that interesting to her. They could just launch weak bullets instead of using these rubbery toys. Still, she walked towards the pile of balls and scooped down to collect one ball. She then peered upward and spotted Cirno still lobbing balls despite none even coming close to her target.

With one swing of her arm, Kasen tossed the dodgeball all with the force of a cannon. Cirno didn't have time to dodge or throw up a wall of ice. The ball collided into her chest with such force that it felt her entire chest had been crushed. Cirno's eyes bugged out as she meteored. Another crater to add to the collection growing around the shrine. Kasen shook her head as she slowly walked over to collect Cirno.

"This isn't good practice." Kasen grunted as she grabbed ahold of the only leg of Cirno's that stuck out. "I'm way above you in more than one way. And that includes physical strength and perception. A game such as this will expire within seconds…" And with a hearty groan, she finally managed to yank Cirno free. The ice fairy immediately spat out a mouthful of dirt and grass. Kasen had to admit; she's far stronger than she originally thought.

"It's a mock spell card duel…" Cirno moaned as she tried to regain her senses.

"There is no such thing." Kasen shook her head. "Everyone in Gensokyo fights with real spell cards. Those who fight with toys aren't going to win anything any time soon." Kasen breathed out of her nose as she grabbed one of dodgeballs. "These lack impact unless you possess extreme strength, they're so soft that if you squeeze it just a tad bit too hard it would offset the ball's path in midair…"

Cirno's rebuttal is to smack Kasen in the face with a ball. Kasen took it well.

Chen wisely decided to head inside the shrine. They might be rubber balls, but with the way they turned into barely visible blurs in flight, it would the smart decision to hide inside while Kasen is busy committing Gensokyo's version of the Saint Valentine's Massacre with dodgeballs.

"So much for training!" Cirno laughed out as she ducked and weaved through the storm of rubber balls.

"Consider this how someone ANGRY at you would fight you!" Kasen got through gritted teeth.

"Alright!" Cirno stuck out her tongue while managing to grab one of the balls in midflight and returned fire. Kasen had became so heavily involved in firing forward that she forgot to actually consider dodging and got pelted right in the face. Didn't do much damage, but it did make Kasen look ridiculous with her furious face on. "Now imagine me as a opponent who isn't taking you seriously because she's stronger than you…"

"I thought I was teaching you!" Kasen got out, but with a angry smile on. Her assault on the fairy had reached a cease fire due to the ammunition being scattered all around the island.

"Perhaps it's time for a change!" Cirno whistled as she laid on her side in mid-air while fanning herself.

"I have fought with and against gods." Kasen folded her arms. "And you barely handle a second-hand witch and a overconfident shrine maiden whenever you cross paths with them!"

"Please, like I ever fight with full power!" Cirno spat out as she lowered herself to the ground, or at least enough to face Kasen face-to-face. "There will be a time and place for that!"

"And that's why you lose so many fights." Kasen breathed out gritted teeth. "You don't use your powers to their fullest potential. While your existence as a fairy greatly limits your potential, your power has managed to impress a few people. The Yama and the witch have mentioned how you can be very strong." Kasen shrugged, putting on a small smile. "But you fight and act like a child most of the time…so I wonder if Marisa just went easy on you and the Yama was in a grouchy mood…" Kasen quickly took a step to the side as Cirno launched a dodgeball straight at her head.

"I beat the Hell Raven once!" Cirno proudly declared as she grabbed another ball to throw it at her opponent. Kasen actually stood still for this, so Cirno put on a devious smile assuming that Kasen would stand still and take it. Kasen stood still and caught the ball before returning fire. Now Cirno stood still and took it.

"Hmm." Kasen shook her head, still retaining her smile. "It's more likely you come across people having a off day and win through sheer luck!" Cirno grunted as she rubbed her sore face. "But hey, a win is a win…"

"Arrgh!" Cirno roared as she hurled dodgeball after dodgeball right at Kasen. Kasen took a breath, placed her hands behind her back and merely took a single step to avoid the dodgeballs.

"Huh." Kasen snapped her fingers. "Before, I wasn't being that serious, but this is good training. A angry opponent is usually unpredictable, but sometimes the opposite happens…"

In a instant, the anger in the air faded away. Cirno started to smile while retaining her scowl. Kasen let out a small chuckle as she grabbed a dodgeball to engage Cirno in a actual mock spell card duel. Chen watched on while giggling every so often at Cirno becoming a magnet for foam balls and Kasen ignoring some of Cirno's attacks only to be pelted. Chen's laughter carried into the Hakurei Castle where Yuyuko couldn't help but chuckle and even Ran let out a tiny little laugh as she stirred a pot of simple beef stew. Keine in the bedroom relaxed a bit. Tensions went down considerably as Cirno and Kasen exchanged fire.

And then someone came in and caught one of the dodgeballs.

"Hello." The stranger greeted with a wave of her free hand. "I will be opponent before we arrive at the mountains." She dressed like a traditional ballerina in a light blue uniform, complete with a little crown and some small gloves. She had tucked her brown hair into a giant bun in the back. But the biggest and most noticeable detail to her would be that both of her eyes lacked the usual white sclera and were instead pitch black. "My name is Augustine Clover." She bowed. "I must apologize on behalf of my master; she wanted to wait for you to arrive at the mountain first before we would engage, but something has prompted her to move the schedule up."

"Augustine?" Kasen asked, tightening her right hand into a fist. "You must come from the outside world then."

"Yes." Augustine nodded. "I may not appear to be the part, but I am actually a specter."

"Specter?" Cirno wondered out loud.

"You want to wed a ghost and you don't know what a specter is?" Kasen sighed. "Geez, Keine has her work cut out for her."

"Young fairy." Augustine turned to Cirno. "A specter is a vengeful ghost. In my life as a mortal, I was joined with a popular traveling cirque of performers. But during a tour through Japan, I was murdered." She turned around and held up her bun, revealing a jagged scar. "Stabbed in the back of the neck. Died in my sleep." She did a quick turn true to her nature. "I waited in the human world for my murderer to be caught…but in the end he died of old age before the police caught him."

"I'm sorry." Kasen crossed her arms. "But now you are here to fight us, I guess? We don't need to hear your sob story."

"That's all I have left." Augustine bowed again. "I am now a agent of vengeance, destined to loyally obey all those seeking revenge. I am unable to move on ever."

"Is that true, Lady Yuyuko?" Kasen turned as she felt the usual chill of death come close.

"Yes." Yuyuko nodded with a forlorn sigh. "Because her purpose for remaining in the first life is to gain vengeance, she can't move on until she gains it. But if her target of ire has moved on, she's trapped until she can find proper satisfaction." Yuyuko looked towards Augustine with sad eyes. "Oh you poor soul."

"Do not feel too sorry for me." Augustine nodded. "I have come here to inflict great harm on you as per my current master's orders. But I can hope that one day we can be friends…"

"PREEMPTIVE STRIKE!" Cirno cried out as she launched a dodgeball straight at Augustine.

The ghost girl sighed right before doing a graceful leap backwards, managing to land right on top of the dodgeball. While already impressive, the next thing did stun everyone around. The dodgeball had frozen in mid-air with Augustine balancing on top of it with one leg. Even Kasen's jaw dropped a bit at the sight.

"I still retain my grace in this current life." Augustine sighed as she lifted herself up off the ball with one leg before landing on two. The ball took a second to realize that psychics existed once again before falling to the ground straight down. "I can balance anything."

"How about my checkbook?" Yuyuko asked, covering her mouth with a sleeved hand.

"I can not." Augustine replied.

"How about my schedule?"

"No can do."

"My bookshelves?"

"I would need tools, including a balancing ruler."

"My diet?"

"I can try, but I'm not a expert on the subject…" Augustine let out a tired sigh. "Let me clarify. I can balance MYSELF on anything as well as balance any psychical object. Projectiles are pointless against me." She raised her right arm up with a light blue aura appearing around her hand. Two transparent blue swans constructed out of light appeared next to her. "But this is the end of the prologue I'm afraid. We must start Act 1 now."

She took a deep breath as stood on the tips of toes. "The curtains have risen. Let us not disappoint the audience…."


	26. L'Oiseau Perdu ACT I

Augustine's opening act was to start with a simple pirouette while the illusionary swans launched a wave of sky blue sphere bullets at Augustine's current targets: Cirno, Kasen and Yuyuko. While Kasen and Yuyuko floated away, Cirno panicked and ran forward to dodge the storm head on. Augustine closed her eyes and shook her head as she watched the stupid fairy frantically weave through the storm of bullets.

"Little cat." Augustine turned towards Chen, still sitting on the stoop. "You best head inside." Chen nodded and turned tail inside of the former shrine. "I'll deal with the three inside of the shrine once I finish up here." She turned her attention back to the fight, noticing the three had grouped up. "Hmm." Augustine hummed out loud before thinking in her head: "I will need to deal with the faux hermit first. She doesn't use bullets as much as the other two. And then the ghost princess; she's got a strong bullet-based game but she's still dangerous. The ice fairy will be easy, provided that I don't ignore her too much."

"What's our plan?" Cirno asked in the huddle.

"There's three of us and one of her, and we aren't restricted to fighting her one-on-one." Kasen summarized. "But if what she says is true, that she can stop our projectiles in midflight, we just need to use Ran's strategy from the last fight. She can't stop a bullet if she doesn't see it coming. Yuyuko." Yuyuko nodded before Kasen continued. "Try to get close to her as much as possible without making yourself a target. I'll try to do the same and wail on her. And Cirno?"

"I try to get around behind her, right?" Cirno asked.

"No." Kasen clicked her tongue. "It will be better if you would keep your distance and fire away at her to keep her distracted."

"Gotcha!" Cirno chirped as she broke off from the group and launched a barrage of icicles at Augustine. The ballerina sighed before bounding up and landing perfectly on a icicle. She didn't stop on just one, but she continued to leap onto each bullet that came to her, getting closer to the still-firing Cirno. The fairy tried to drown the ballerina with a shotgun blast of frost, but Augustine delivered a swift kick straight to Cirno's face. Augustine did a quick bow as she stood over the downed Cirno.

"So much for the distraction." Yuyuko sighed. "We need a better plan if she can cover any gap we put between her…and she can also escape if we get too close."

"Leave it to me." Kasen puffed out as she pounded a fist into a palm. "Get Cirno out of the way while I'll try to end this myself." Yuyuko flew over to where Cirno laid, picked her up, and got out of the way of a blue laser that drilled through the ground.

"Et quitter la fée et la princesse." Augustine sighed as she watched Yuyuko carry Cirno behind the approaching Kasen. "Et entrez le démon dans le déni." Augustine summoned more swans to try to drown out Kasen and get around her to hit the retreating Yuyuko. Kasen took a sharp intake of breath right before pushing her bandage hand forward. A powerful blast of air with the power of a cannon blew the bullets away. Yuyuko laid Cirno down a good distance away before looking back and seeing Kasen square off with Augustine.

"If assume that my ability to negate projectiles is the only thing I'm good at…" Augustine spread her legs apart. "…then you are going to lose."

"Then don't assume my bandaged arm is a sign of injury." Kasen tapped on said arm.

"Let us drop the assumptions and fight on even lines." Augustine did a quick bow before doing a quick spinning kick right at Kasen. The monk blocked it with one arm and blocking the secondary kick with the other arm. Kasen jumped back before Augustine stuck her arm forward with her hand flat like a spear. Augustine kept going with more spinning kicks and spear-hand attacks, completely drowning Kasen out in a barrage of attacks.

Tried of being on the defensive, Kasen stepped around to the right side of Augustine and backhanded Augustine in the face. The ballerina spun around like a top and went away from Kasen, heading towards Yuyuko and Cirno. Yuyuko responded by unleashing a wave of butterfly bullets. Augustine stopped spinning to put her hand forward and the butterflies stopped in mid-flight. She proceeded to push past the bullets like people in a crowd, getting closer to Yuyuko.

"You have a unusual idea of balance." Yuyuko hid a trembling mouth behind a sleeved hand. "Does you master hire people who come up with a unusual term to describe their powers? The weight of gravity for transforming fate, and balance for negatation?"

"I create my own sense of balance." Augustine stated as she floated over to Yuyuko. Nonchalantly, she shoved a hand behind her to stall Kasen by freezing her in place. "If I don't think something is balanced, I fix it." She held up her free hand to keep Yuyuko quiet. "And no, I still can't balance any of those things you asked last time."

"I see." Yuyuko stood straight. "You hate crooked things. Your bullets don't bend or bounce, they always travel in straight lines." Augustine nodded. "But still, that does mean you are vulnerable to the sides." Augustine took a second before nodding in response. "But then again, you do incorporate a lot of spinning…so trying to hit you from a side would be difficult."

"I don't try to be a easy target." Augustine rolled her neck.

"That's dependent on your skill." Yuyuko coughed as she unleashed a giant wave of bullets all around her, rising up like a whirlwind. Augustine flew back and made two swans to fire straight forward at Yuyuko. Yuyuko flew up and continued to unleash bullet after bullet in a attempt to get Augustine. The ballerina just stopped each bullet and jumped on each one to reach Yuyuko. Unlike how Cirno stood still, Yuyuko stopped firing and moved away from Augustine's kick. After allowing Augustine to do a few more extra kicks, Yuyuko unleashed more bullets, going in at different angles to catch Augustine off guard. But the ballerina didn't miss a step and froze the bullets again before approaching.

All the while Kasen just watched. She couldn't do anything other than move her eyes around in their sockets. Kinda made watching the fight a bit hard whenever the two combatants darted out of her sight. But hey! At least she got a front row seat to witness Cirno squirm on the ground with her hands on her sore face. So glad all those training sessions were successful. Looks like the next thing Kasen will teach will be how to catch a fly with chopsticks! Sounds like Cirno is getting that black belt!

Kasen figured that she was getting a bit nutty from being frozen in place. Like Cirno could actually use chopsticks.

Yuyuko quickly got tired of this whole fire-freeze-dodge routine. But it seemed Augustine didn't mind the repetition. Probably came from the fact she, in her previous life, practiced and performed the same dances every day. Yuyuko decided to break the loop by thrusting herself forward with a butterfly-bullet infused hand and slapping right at Augustine. The attack…connected! Yuyuko was off-put by that.

"Balance Sign: Payment For Services Owed." Augustine stated right before a ring of blue lasers shot out from her body and struck Yuyuko in the chest. The ghost girl plummeted to the ground and bounced off before landing on her face, her cap falling off. Augustine killed the spell card and landed right at Yuyuko's feet before bowing silently.

"I was planning on dealing with you first." Augustine turned towards the still-frozen Kasen. A snap of her fingers and Kasen dropped to the ground with complete control over her limbs again. She quickly got right back onto her feet and ran up to Augustine with a fist raised. Augustine turned around with a scary look in her face, scary enough to make Kasen quickly halt in her tracks. "But I got distracted." Augustine laid a finger on her lips. "This could be a problem."

"I'm glad we agree on something." Kasen grunted as she cracked her knuckles.

Cirno stirred. Her face still burned slightly from the kick but she was finally starting to get back up. One of the first things she noticed right away is that Kasen is squaring off against the ballerina. As Cirno rose a bit more to get back to her feet, she noticed that Yuyuko also laid on the ground, withering in great pain. Something in Cirno snapped and got her to jump up to her feet.

"Hey ballerina!" Cirno shouted, managing to interrupt both Augustine and Kasen. "I'm not done with you yet!"

"Ah, you recovered." Augustine coughed. "Perhaps it's time for you to join the rest in inside."

"Oh no, I'm going to join this fight! And I'm going to land the final blow!" Cirno cracked her knuckles. "And now it's personal!"

"Two ands." Augustine commented to herself. "Must be the smart one." She cleared her throat before asking: "And why is it personal? Because I hit you in the face?"

"No!" Cirno bellowed before pointing over to Yuyuko. "It's because you hurt my future wife!"

"A fairy and a powerful princess of the netherworld." Augustine once more commented to herself. "Sounds like a trashy romance novel written by some generic male writer." She shrugged. "Come on then." She took a quick bow. "I'll take on all of you at once."

"Let's fight together this time!" Cirno chirped as she zipped over to be next to Kasen.

Kasen sighed. No way to avoid teaming up with Cirno now. She spread her legs and arms out into a fighting pose. Augustine looked straight at her opponents with a simple stare before summoning a quartet of swans. Kasen and Cirno took a second of staring down their enemy before they launched themselves into battle.


	27. L'Oiseau Perdu ACT II

It felt a little bit hard to keep a eye on both targets. Augustine had to focus on just covering the most ground in bullets instead of trying to aim at either Kasen or Cirno. Kasen dodged each bullet as they came her way with grace and reflexes befitting a well-trained martial artist. The little ice fairy just went crazy weaving through the net of dangerous bullets, barely avoiding each one. Augustine almost wanted to slow down firing at Cirno to give her a chance to breathe. But seeing how Cirno attacked her, she brought this tiring ordeal on herself.

"She's not giving us a chance to attack!" Cirno cried out to Kasen as she practically threw herself down to the ground of the floating shrine to avoid a wave of giant red bullets.

"A sound tactic." Kasen commented out loud, mostly to herself as Cirno was out of earshot and running away from the bullets on foot. "Why don't you try freezing them?" She shouted towards Cirno.

"I don't think I can!" Cirno shouted back as she leapt forward to dodge a pretty nasty bullet. "There's too many!"

A point that Kasen silently conceded to herself. With this density of bullets, it would be pointless to freeze them as any sort of cover would vanish instantly. Plus, given how hard the bullets are colliding into the ground normally, freezing them solid would only tear holes into the island. Kasen too dropped down to the ground and started to run past the meteors that rained all around her. They needed to counter eventually!

"Do not delay the inevitable." A clearly bored Augustine called out. "I do not wish to kill you, but you will end up dead if you continue to be fools…"

"I am no fool and I will beat you!" Cirno declared before launching a series of icicles towards her target. Augustine slightly muffled a yawn as she leaned back to dodge the icicles. She continued to shower the ground with bullets, making Cirno run off in her arms raised above her head.

Kasen wanted to switch over to the offense, but it seems that Augustine wanted to play it smart. She knew that Cirno posed the tiniest threat, so she went after Kasen, the one that could actually beat her if given the chance to. Perhaps that's the best way to win this fight; having Cirno serve as a distraction while Kasen got in the serious hits.

But Cirno would never agree to that. She would do her own thing for worse and for even worse. Kinda like a team mate on a online FPS, not that Kasen would know about such a thing.

"As a ghost, I do not tire." Augustine laid back onto a cloud and took a calming breath. "But I can imagine even a fairy and a oni will."

"Not a oni!" Kasen barked in a automatic fashion.

"Then consider how you can win this fight." Augustine looked down at her opponents as they scurried around the floating island to try and survive. "Plan out a attack and strike me down."

"Why are you trying to help us?" Kasen asked as she got out of the way of a wave of giant disc-shaped bullets. "Aren't we your enemies? Aren't you here to end our lives?"

"My orders are to harass the current residents of the Hakurei Shrine." Augustine admitted. "I'll tell you everything I was asked to do if…somehow…manage to tire me out."

"You got it nutty lady!" Cirno shouted as she ran around the island, advancing towards Augustine while still avoiding the bullets. Augustine lazily followed the ice fairy with her eyes only and didn't bother moving once Cirno vanished underneath her. The ballerina got ready to move away, figuring that Cirno would try to attack from the 'blind spot'.

"PERFECT FREEZE!" Cirno let out a happy little cheer as she started to quickly freeze the water in the air around Augustine. The ballerina quickly shot away from that area as the literal air turned into a ice block. Cirno chased straight after Augustine, only for her opponent to turn right around and kick over the block of ice over, crushing Cirno with her own device.

Kasen shook her head as she watched her pupil struggle to get free. "Right." Kasen tighten her stance. "Now, it's even."

"As even as a one-sided fight can be." Augustine sighed as she looked away. "Please, do not let yourself die to my attacks. I wish not to shed the blood of innocents…"

"Why are you fighting then?" Kasen asked as she started to edge closer towards Augustine. "If you do not wish to harm someone, do not enter a fight!"

"I am bound by revenge." Augustine summoned a row of swans in front of her, ready to fire. "If a great power desires revenge, I must help them unwillingly and obediently to fulfill their revenge to the ultimate end. You know this." Augustine added in a hint of anger into her voice as she re-explained. "Why do you need me to retell you this? Do you seek to free me from this chain?"

"I understand your plight." Kasen kept her stance solid and ready to counterattack anything. "And I wish to only fight those who want to cause great harm. But this entire fight, you are warning us and trying to end it…"

"I can't help myself!" Augustine screamed, firing off a barrage of bullets from her swans. Her voice had become panicked, which made her sound strained. "Please! Just surrender! I can stop attacking you then!"

"There's a plot here." Kasen simply stated as she easily weaved through the bullets, trying to gain a safe and cautious path towards her enemy. "A plot to steal a shrine from the ground it lays on and all of the people living in it. I wish to know who's behind it and the reasoning."

Augustine went quiet for a second, halting all attacks for a brief second. Kasen took notice and broke her stance. "Please." Augustine quietly pleaded. "Please just fight me. I can't be persuaded. I can't be swayed! Just…stop talking and FIGHT!" She screeched as she activated a spell card. "Balance Sign! Rose Adagio!" As Augustine balanced herself one leg, a vortex of blue bullets twisted around her, with a pair of thick lasers keeping Kasen from going too far off to the left or right.

Trapped in a corridor, Kasen flew forward through the bullets. Kasen pushed her hand forward and fired off a steady stream of bullet to try to throw Augustine's concentration off. Augustine didn't seem to want to dodge them and let herself be attacked. It didn't take long for Kasen to break Augustine's focus and end the spell card.

"Just stop!" Augustine cried out. "Balance Sign! Pavlova Tour!" Another spell card; three vortexes spewing out bullets in all directions. Kasen tried to retaliate, but got buffeted by a few bullets, blowing her back and down onto the ground. Augustine let out a scream as she increased the flurry of the vortexes. Kasen tried to get back up or at least roll away, but the bullets were too fast for her. Kasen got throttled by the barrage of bullets blasting her body. Eventually, Augustine ended the spell card. Kasen couldn't move at all. It felt like all of her limbs were going to fall off! She took short shallow breathes as she tried to work past the pain.

Augustine gently lowered herself down to the ground and walked towards the fading Kasen. "I'm sorry." Augustine cupped her hands around her mouth with closed eyes. "But now…"

"Gotcha!" Cirno shouted as she launched a icicle missile towards Augustine's head. Augustine's head caught the icicle and it caused the ballerina to fall over like a bowling pin. "I'm back!" Cirno triumphantly, her clothes quite wet from all of the melted ice that came from the giant ice block that trapped her. "And now it's down to me!"

"As expected." Augustine sighed as she focused a bit of energy into her head to melt the icicle. "Now it's down to you. The weakest one. I should be able to finish this quickly and deal the other three huddled in the shrine."

"Not a chance!" Cirno declared. "I shall fight you and win this fight!"

"If the princess of the underworld and one of the Four Devas couldn't, what makes you think you can…"

"GOTCHA!" Cirno shouted again, firing another icicle. Augustine let the icicle get embedded in her body. "I'm doing well so far!"

"Hmm." Augustine sighed. "Fine. You wish to battle? Then so be it."


	28. L'Oiseau Perdu ACT III

Augustine felt tired and ragged. Rather impressive, given that she died and no longer required sleep. This little fairy seemed to be the weakest thing she ever encountered in her life, and yet it continued to pester her. She should be done by now, but as long as one person within the flying shrine still remained awake or alive, she couldn't live.

Geez, there's still the people in the shrine itself.

"Make this easy." Augustine let out a groan, weakly waving her arm around to summon more ethereal swans. "I won't kill you…"

"Oh, I can't die." Cirno rolled her head around as she started to do some stretches. "I'll just go to asleep and then get up again in a bit." She threw in a quick shrug while she continued to do her stretches. "So I'm afraid you're at a disadvantage."

"I'm dead." Augustine let out a second groan. "I don't need sleep."

"Oh." Cirno pouted. "Still, I'll win!"

Augustine took a breath. No sense in talking to her anymore. Augustine let loose with a barrage of thick lasers. Cirno let out a cry as she shot up into the sky to avoid them. The swans fired off a spread of small ring-shaped bullets into the sky, coating it. Cirno darted around to avoid all of the danger, doing more failing than winning.

Yuyuko and Kasen tried to use plans to best Augustine in battle. They failed. Now, Cirno is going to wing it by hitting really, really, hard!

Cirno unleashed a torrent of icicles. She just threw them all over the place, covering the island in sharp frozen spikes. Augustine didn't bother to move, she just went intangible to let them fly through her. Cirno flew forward, forming a spear into her hands. Augustine went solid and stepped to the side to avoid the charging fairy.

Cirno quickly turned around and thrust forward with the spears, jabbing it all directions. Augustine sighed and easily dipped down below the fairy before rising up with a fierce kick that knocked the spear out of Cirno's hands.

But undaunted, Cirno threw both hands forward flat and unleashed a powerful blast of cold air. Augustine didn't have time to fully dodge it, and her left arm got coated in a thin layer of frost. While being a ghost meant she couldn't feel anything but cold, it still hurt to some degree. At least it forced her to back away. Cirno folded her arms again.

"First blood to me!" Cirno declared.

"I don't bleed." Augustine sighed. "You wish to marry a ghost and you don't know anything about them?"

"I'll learn in due time!" Cirno stuck her tongue out. "Becoming the strongest also means becoming the smartest!"

"You're a lost cause." Augustine pinched the bridge of her nose. "Or some sort of idiotic savant. Either way…" Augustine let out a halted breath. "…I'm going to hit you with a real powerful spell card. You can still surrender."

"I'm going to win." Cirno shook her head. "So go ahead! I'll weather the storm and bring on the hail!"

Augustine actually felt something. Not apathy or fear or even her usual emotion of depression, but actual anger. A ruler of ghosts and a legendary oni, and this is thing that's making her angry. Augustine spun in a circle, with giant bullets forming around her in a giant circle. As she spun faster and faster, more circles of bullets appeared around her.

"Balance Sign: Brilliance of Nijinsky!" Augustine proudly declared as she unleashed the ring, spreading the bullets outward. Cirno waited for a bullet to come close before freezing it solid. Once that happened, she pulled back her leg and drove her foot into the frozen orb.

The kick drove the bullet forward like a pool ball struck by a skilled player, knocking aside the other bullets and clearing a straight path to Augustine. Cirno darted forward with a recently-formed spear in hand.

Augustine quickly snapped forward with a kick, which Cirno managed to block, but it tore the spear in half. Still holding onto both pieces, Cirno jabbed them into both sides of Augustine. Despite being a incorporeal being, the spears stuck hard into Augustine. She didn't yell out in pain, but she did spin away to avoid being blasted in the face with a blast of artic air.

"Ready to surrender?" Cirno asked in a boastful voice.

"You are…" Augustine growled as she handedly yanked out both spear halves and dropped them. "…predictable. I have figured out how to beat you, and I'm NOT going to wait for any sort of opportunity."

"I have no weaknesses!" Cirno outright lied.

"Besides fire, martial arts, and pebbles?" Augustine asked in a annoyed fashion.

"Besides those!" Cirno huffed as she darted at Augustine with an axe made of ice.

Augustine put on a rare smile as she readied a bullet in front of Cirno. Cirno dipped to the side, only to run into a kick that smacked her a good distance away. Cirno shook her head, but once more charged at Augustine. Augustine threw up more bullets. Cirno took a deep breath before zipping in and out of the field of bullets…only to once more be smacked in the face.

"Your confidence is too great." Augustine called out to Cirno. "It makes you predictable. You tackle every problem in the same way: head-on."

"Then I'll change things up!" Cirno groaned as she patted herself on the head with the flat-edge of the axe, proving how smart she is.

"No, you won't." Augustine shook her head. "You won't learn." As a way to demonstrate just how easy she could control Cirno. She summoned swans in a ring around her to fire out bullets. Cirno went up and prepared to come around to strike Augustine in the head, but Augustine reached a hand up and blasted out a laser that enveloped Cirno.

"I will win." Augustine declared, witnessing Cirno regenerate. "Surrender."

"Not until I win!" Cirno shouted as she threw the axe down like a boomerang before darting down alongside it. Two swans easily caught the two: shattering the axe and sending Cirno flying off. "I have to win!" Cirno screamed. "I got to win! I have a date!" Cirno desperately charged straight at Augustine. The ballerina ghost allowed her to get close enough so she could grab Cirno by the hair and hold her up.

"You can't win." Augustine growled. "And if you could, you wouldn't stand a chance against my master or her other minions. You aren't involved in this affair, you aren't the target."

"What is?" Cirno asked, her voice strained by the pain of her hair being yanked.

"I would tell you…" Augustine started as she raised her hand flat up, gathering energy into it, ready to chop Cirno's head in half. "…but I'm sick of you…"

Cirno reached her hands up and placed them right through Augustine's arm. Augustine breathed out a laugh, right before she suddenly started to feel very cold. While Augustine made her arm incorporeal to prevent Cirno from escape, she couldn't take the bitter cold air that Cirno created. And soon the air spread to all over body. Augustine couldn't make her body intangible enough to keep her body from quickly freezing. She dropped Cirno and quickly started to fall down.

As Augustine tried to generate heat from her body to escape, in the end, all she could is watch as Cirno roared down after her with a axe in hand, and cut her in half.

Being a ghost, it didn't mean much. It did mean, however, that she took a great deal of damage and cratered into the floating island. Cirno landed aside her, dropped the axe…

…and boogied.

"YES YES!" Cirno happily screeched like annoying bird. "I WON!" She started to giggle as she fell over all tired and excited. "I knew it." She muttered. "I knew it."

"Excellent!" Yuyuko floated over to Cirno and patted her on the head. "I knew you could do it." She leaned over and kissed Cirno on the forehead.

Suddenly, all of the expired energy from the fight came back and Cirno leapt to her feet. "ALRIGHT!" She hollered as she stuck her hands above her head. "I'm ready to go another round! You?" Cirno pointed over to the fallen Augustine, who was just yanking herself out of the hole in the ground.

"No, I am quite through." Augustine sighed. "You have bested me. I admit defeat…and as long as I can do so, I am free of my burden to assist those seeking revenge."

"I don't believe it." Kasen groaned as she painfully picked herself up.

"You actually managed to win that fight."

"Duh!" Cirno spat a raspberry at Kasen. "Always bet on Cirno."

"Says the bookie that rigs the game in their favor." Kasen muttered under her breath and turning towards Augustine. "Now, tell us. Who is this person you're seeking revenge for? And who is the target?"

Augustine sighed as she arranged herself to sit in a proper fashion. "I can't reveal the name or identity of my employer…for I do not know."

"What?"

"She reached out to me, brought me to this land, and gave me the mission of meeting you here in the event of Tsubasa's failure." Augustine sighed. "It wasn't a voice but more so words being told to me."

"Then I guess we'll have to ride this ride to the end of the track." Kasen coughed. "That's another dead end."

"But I will reveal to you the reason as to why this is all happening." Augustine spoke up. "The revenge isn't against you…but against that." She pointed a finger past the three. Looking around them, they could see that the finger pointed straight at the shrine.

"The revenge is against the current shrine maiden of Hakurei."


	29. Once A Friend, Always A

A violent laser light show erupted in the forest. While intensely colorful, each laser evaporated several trees and a few unlucky birds.

Reimu was quickly losing ground. Marisa really intended to kill her as she unleashed all of the most powerful lasers. Reimu and Sakuya had been forced onto the defensive with how Marisa let loose everything in her spell book. Anytime the two tried to attack, Marisa destroyed it. Reimu's lasers were drowned out by a larger laser and Sakuya's knives suffered the same fate as the trees.

"Can't you stop time?" Reimu grunted as she hit the ground to avoid a laser as thick as a column of the shrine.

"My watch isn't working." Sakuya pulled out her watch and started to wind it. "Both in keeping time and keeping it from moving." She grunted as she ducked to hide behind a rock to avoid a large laser. "Give me a moment. Maybe I can try to brute it into working."

Reimu took a deep breath before lunging ahead; pulling up a barrier in front of her that followed her forward as she charged at Marisa. Marisa blasted out a laser larger than the barrier. The barrier held strong but it did obscure most of Reimu's vision as she continued to head straight on.

But of course, Marisa had dodged to the left the moment Reimu dropped her barrier to attack, allowing Marisa to get off a laser. Reimu could only skirt to the side, and piece of her side of her stomach got caught in the intense blast. Reimu clutched her burning side as Marisa approached with her Mini-Hakkero in hand, ready to blast Reimu's head clean off.

"Any last words?" Marisa asked in a dead-serious tone.

"We were friends." Reimu coughed out some blood.

"Terrible epitaph." Marisa shook her head as she readied the killing blast.

But as the laser tore into the ground, Marisa noticed that Reimu had vanished! Marisa quickly shut down the Mini-Hakkero and turned towards the other opponent, the white-haired maid. She had somehow stolen both her prey and her findings! Both Reimu and Suika joined each other in the surprisingly large wheelbarrow. It looked that Reimu had been bandaged already?

"How?" Marisa asked, honestly astonished.

"You have truly forgotten." Sakuya sighed. "I have the ability to stop time." She held up her pocketwatch, which sounded ready to completely fall apart. "I used to have the ability anyway. It seems that the one minute I had has ended."

"Geez." Marisa scratched the back of her neck with her Mini-Hakkero still in hand. "So, within one minute, you got the bad shrine maiden out of the way of the beam, bandaged her up, got her into the wheelbarrow with her oni wife, and carted them out in only one minute of time? Even for someone with the ability to stop time, I don't buy it."

"This isn't like you at all, Marisa." Sakuya shook her head as she prepped her knives. "You used to ignore people and instead focus on stealing whatever is nailed down. What changed? What happened?"

"Nothing happened!" Marisa exasperated. "I am the same person I was always! I'm old friends with the shrine maiden from a long time ago, we haven't seen each other in a while, and she's gone against her shrine maiden vows! I am the good guy here!"

"Is murder a good thing?" Sakuya asked.

"Oh please!" Marisa groaned. "You didn't remember Reimu until she came to see you."

Sakuya got taken back by this, almost dropping a knife.

Marisa took the opportunity to attack, intending to end the fight quickly by drowning Sakuya in a giant laser. Sakuya quickly dodged and tossed a knife straight towards Marisa, nicking a part of her dress. Soon it became a exchange of knives and lasers between the two as they tore a new clearing in the forest.

Sakuya couldn't make a bead on Marisa, but at least Marisa couldn't come close to even scratching on her. Sakuya figured that Marisa would get tired and slash or annoyed enough to do something stupid that would allow for a good clean finishing shot. She did have a hard time keeping focus due to Marisa's comment…

Her attention got refocused as she noticed that Marisa darted to the side, allowing a knife to graze her. As Sakuya wondered as to why Marisa would make a clumsy move, it became obvious. Marisa needed to get the perfect angle to attack the wheelbarrow.

Sakuya took a gulp of dry air as she zipped to intercept the attack. She threw out a barrage of four knives as a last ditch effort. Both attacks connected. Marisa turned towards Sakuya, sending the attack straight at the maid. The knives stabbed deep into Marisa, and the laser fried Sakuya.

And soon the forest went quiet. The bodies of a witch and a maid laid nearly-dead while the bodies of the shrine maiden and the oni laid still in the wheelbarrow.

The shrine maiden stirred first. She had gotten used to being hit by things that would kill her. That and Sakuya bandaged her incredibly well. A bit groggy from the pain, she looked to her side and noticed that Suika had a calm look on her face for someone that fell out of the sky. Reimu always wondered if Suika had a gland that would capture and contain liquor until she would need it the most. Seeing her as okay, Reimu climbed out of the wheelbarrow.

Damn, it really hurt. Reimu clutched her patched side as she walked over to look at Sakuya. A bit signed, but breathing just fine. Sakuya sighed as she got up. "Hmm." Sakuya coughed out. "It seems that Marisa had forgotten how to actually do major damage with her lasers." She pulled out a lighter out of a pocket and flicked it on. "In fact, it's mostly heat."

"But my wound…" Reimu pointed to her side.

"Closer-range and I distracted her." Sakuya admitted. "C'mon." She leaned over the wheelbarrow. "Come. We'll return to the mansion and recover."

"Hold on." Reimu groaned as she toddled over to the fallen Marisa. The witch-girl breathed slowly and sharply as blood seeped out of her wounds. One knife in her shoulder, one knife to her ribs, to her arm and one to her hips. Marisa sounded near death. "Marisa." Reimu spoke.

"Go ahead and gloat." Marisa coughed. "You're killing a future parent…"

"I'm saving you." Reimu groaned as she bent down to pick her up. "Don't move, or speak."

"Let me go." Marisa growled, still holding onto the Mini-Hakkero loosely. Taking a preemptive, Reimu took the mini-heater and place it into her pocket. Maris growled, but the words in her throat died as the pain washed over her.

"She tried to kill us all." Sakuya simply reminded as Reimu carried her unconscious friend.

"She's my friend, and I need to know why she's doing this." Reimu replied. "You'll patch her up?" Sakuya let out a long breath as she looked down at the weak Marisa before nodding slowly. Reimu laid Marisa onto the ground to allow Sakuya to do some first aid. Sakuya started to wind her watch again, hoping that would work again to make this job easy.

"Shouldn't a shrine maiden have the ability to heal?" Marisa coughed out.

"Shut up." Reimu stated without looking at Marisa. The witch girl went quiet; possibly out of pain, she had nothing to retort, or she needed to calm down before she put herself into more pain. Once Sakuya wound the watch up, she did a quick time stop to remove her knives and quickly cover the wounds before time resumed.

"Hmm." Marisa groaned as she could relax a bit easier. "Don't expect thanks." Reimu and Sakuya sighed as they went back to the mansion, with Marisa stuffed into the wheelbarrow. "Oh, I get it." Marisa giggled. "You're saving me for later. At least bake me well, and serve me as a sandwich…"

"You hate bread." Reimu muttered.

"That proves it." Marisa whispered. "You have completely forgotten me. We really haven't seen each other since we were kids…"

Reimu stopped short, but not because of the intense pain shooting through her. What Marisa just said…it reminded her of something that had happened a long time ago. Memories flooded in. Good and bad ones alike. And soon, a inkling of a idea of what's been going on came to her. As she stood still and thought it out, she realized…

"Take them back to the mansion." Reimu ordered to Sakuya as she started to float up. "I got some business to handle."

"Glad you called on me to come and pick up the kids." Sakuya weakly kidded. "I'll have Patchouli…" She pursed her lips as she remembered. "…I mean, Koakuma will handle these two and I'll try to find you." Reimu had already flown up into the sky. "Wait! Where are you going!" Sakuya yelled out.

"To find my shrine!" Reimu shouted back. "Just fly around and if you find it, try to get it back!" She darted away, focusing not on the pain but on keeping a eye out for her shrine.

She knew WHY the shrine was taken.


	30. And So I Walked Into The Valley of Thorn

Things have at least quieted down at the shrine. Augustine had agreed to not attack anyone and everyone had settled down to have a post-fight tea session so Augustine could explain a bit better.

"As I mentioned…" Augustine spoke after sipping down some hot tea. "I know not my employer, only my mission statement and her goal."

"So our enemy is a she!" Cirno stamped a fist into a open palm.

"That's helpful." Kasen grunted with a roll of her eyes. "There's literally over a hundred females out there that hate Reimu and want her to suffer…some of them are in this room." She panned out her arms, motioning to everyone in the room. Cirno looked back confused, while Keine shot back a angry look, Yuyuko kept her nice and calm look on but it held a hint of malice within it, Ran held a annoyed look with Chen trying to mimic, and Augustine focused more on her tea, trying to keep a low profile. Kasen decided to switch gears and ask, "Do you recall what kind of voice…or words were…spoken…or stated?"

"My client was very direct." Augustine started to recall. "She told me what to do, and nothing else. I didn't hear any voice, but it felt like…there were my own thoughts. Like this person made me think what they wanted me to think. And I could feel that if I didn't obey, it would be painful."

"Someone with power like that…" Ran hummed, trying to think of someone who would fit that bill. "…would be someone that Reimu has most likely defeated in the past. But seeing how many fit that bill…we're walking in with only assumptions." Ran shifted in place. "This might be asking for too much, but our best chance to survive this is to work together and stay together."

"Forget it." Keine hissed. "I will never help youkai."

"You might not have a choice here." Kasen breathed out. Keine huffed and turned away like a child losing a argument. Kasen shook her head and turned back towards the others. "A question has come to me. Why was the shrine taken but not Reimu with it? If they want revenge for Reimu, why wait for her to not be at the shrine to take it?"

"We're assuming again." Ran spoke up. "It's entirely possible they didn't know that Reimu would be out when Tsubasa picked up the shrine. It could be that Tsubasa picked it up without bothering to check." She took a small breath to collect her thoughts. "No. I have a reason to believe that the shrine was taken without Reimu on purpose. Tsubasa and Augustine's appearances seemed to be timed rather than random occurrences."

"I was asked to wait for you at a certain place and time." Augustine confirmed. "But I have reason to believe in the fact she wants the shrine and not the maiden with it."

"Not less Reimu is suffering below us." Yuyuko chimed in. "If all of the vanishings are connected to this, then it's possible that Reimu being on the ground without her shrine is somehow important to our villain's plan."

Everyone went quiet, all trying to think of various things. The villain's true plan to make Reimu suffer, the purpose of the shrine's kidnapping, what awaited them once they arrived at those mountains that Tsubasa talked about, and wondering how the date is going.

The last one was just in Cirno's head as she assumed she could defeat any threat that came her way.

After a few minutes of just sitting around, Ran finally broke the silence with: "We have stopped."

This got everyone up and go outside. The flying island had indeed stopped, right next to a flat cliffside of a mountain. At the end of the cliff laid a man-made cave entrance leading into the mountain and presumably the main villain's lair. Kasen stepped forward. "I do not recognize this mountain." She admitted.

"I can't discern our location." Ran spoke up. "We might not even be in Gensokyo anymore…"

"Seriously?" Yuyuko gasped.

"It's possible." Ran took a look around. "I do not sense the border of Gensokyo. We might be in another world entirely."

"Regardless?" Kasen took a breath. "We are going to bust through whatever comes our way. Reimu might not deserve much, but she doesn't deserve this level of treatment." And together, the six of them went forward, minus Augustine as she remained back at the shrine silently. A proud Cirno and a serious Kasen lead the pack, with a concerned Yuyuko following shortly behind a cautious Ran and Chen, with a uninterested Keine following shortly behind.

They traveled up to the entrance…where Kasen stopped, causing a chain of bumps. "What's up?" Chen asked.

"I feel a presence." Kasen told, balling her hands up into tight fists. "One…"

"Yeah, yeah." Sighed a unknown figure from above them. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold yer horses."

Everyone looked up to see a extremely tall muscular lady descend from the clouds above. As she arrived near their level, they could see that the lady wore a red version of a Shinsengumi uniform, carried a spear that looked familiar to the legendary Nihongo spear…and…

"A oni?" Kasen gasped upon noticing the twin long purple horns sticking out of their enemy's forehead.

"'tis not that special." The lady huffed out. "I'm not really a special oni, so don't expect a ten day battle. In fact…" She reached into her kimono and pulled out a rusty-looking scout canteen. "…I can't even afford good booze…"

"I do not recognize you." Kasen stepped forward. "Are you new to Gensokyo?"

"Pretty much." The lady shrugged before she took a quick sip. "Name's Shinwa, I'm guarding this entrance against you guys." She traced a lazy finger across the crowd. "You see, at this point, it doesn't matter if you live or die."

"What?" Chen quaked out.

"Now that you arrived at your destination…" Shinwa sighed. "All bets are off. The boss wants your corpses to line the hallway leading into the palace."

"Why?" Chen gulped out.

"Take a wild guess." Shinwa shrugged.

"Where?"

"The Palace Of Thorns, where the ruler can entice anyone they desire."

"How?"

"The ruler has claimed the crown at the center."

"…when?"

"Enough of the questions." Shinwa groaned as she leaned on her spear. "Can you please make it easy on me? I didn't get a good night's rest last night…"

"Ummm." Yuyuko raised her hand. "Then perhaps you could pretend you didn't see us? You can take a nap…"

Yuyuko blinked for a second, and on the next second, the spear stood only half a inch away from her nose. She let out a sharp breath as everyone slowly backed away from her. Shinwa stared on with a focus capable of burning through steel. Yuyuko could have sworn that only one second had passed and somehow the lazy and bored guard had transformed into a threat.

"As I mentioned, the Palace of Thorns' ruler entices people." Shinwa admitted in a serious tone. "That includes me. Despite my own personal opinions, I need to follow the ruler's orders. And if she asked me to slaughter a oni, a fairy, two shikigamis, a ghost princess, and a werebeast…" As she took a second to let her words settle in, the spear 'flashed' back to it's original place as a leanto for the lazy oni guard. "…then so be it! I'll kill you, rob you blind, and get a good night's sleep!"


	31. Villain's Interlude

"Tell me, has the illusion been set?"

"Yes. The shrine maiden will arrive here when you feel like letting her come around."

"Good, good. Is Shiwna taking her duties seriously?"

"It appears to be so. While I don't believe she will be able to fell anyone of the surviving six, she will tire them out considerably."

"I didn't expect Suika to be taken out so soon. At least it helps I in the long run."

"Mistress, shall I go and wait in my area? Or do you expect that your little girl will be able to handle them?"

"No, go to your area and wait patiently. I believe at least two or three will survive that far. After that, you're free to do whatever you please."

"Thank you Mistress."

And with that, the second-in-command vanished from the throne room of the Palace of Thorns. The ruler took a deep breath before tapping her finger once on her armrest to summon her 'little girl.' Out of the shadows appeared a young girl with striking blond hair.

"Rumia." The mistress of the palace boomed. "I need you."

Rumia bowed her head at the steps leading up to the throne.

"I need you to protect me. Your mother is in trouble. Bad people are coming to hurt me. Please, you must protect me."

Rumia nodded.

"Go and wait in the room beyond the foyer. Hold no mercy for those who will appear. Eat well dear."

Rumia vanished. The mistress let out a little giggle, hoping that everything would continue to run smoothly for here on out.


	32. Bellow

"So…" Shinwa rolled her neck, removing any clinks. "How do 'ya want this to go down? One at a time, or all at once? Honor or not, I'll win." She gave her spear a spin before pointing at the center of the crowd. "There's no way you can outmatch me one-on-one or…" She took a second to count the crowd. "…one-on-six!"

"Pretty confident, huh?" Keine snorted.

"I'm a oni!" Shinwa laughed out. "I'm supposed to be able to kill entire armies while drunk off my ass!"

"Sounds tough!" Chen commented as she readied into a stance.

"You got it!"

"In that case…" Chen breathed out as she focused energy into her limbs, rotating her limbs around. "…I'll take you on!" She shouted while motioning for Shinwa to bring it on. The oni chuckled before throwing her spear so hard that it sounded like the wind itself is being cut in half. Chen shot up into the air to avoid it.

"WOW!" Shinwa bellowed, rather surprised. "YOU CAN FLY?"

Chen didn't respond immediately, equally surprised about that comment being made in Gensokyo of all places. "Yes." She replied.

"That's…." Shinwa blanked for a second. "…way above me."

The air around the battleground became quiet and still, like a graveyard. The survivors in the shrine were at a loss for words. And Shinwa couldn't fathom how a little cat could fly and why her enemies were speechless.

One by one, the rest of the six from the shrine rose up into the air, making Shinwa balk and look like the world is coming to a end. "You!" She pointed a quaking finger at the heroes. "YOU ALL CAN FLY?"

"Yeah." Kasen shrugged. "I'm guessing you can't."

"Not without these!" Shinwa pulled up the edge of her dress to reveal her ankle-high boots with little tiny wings. "It's a recreation of the Greek god Hermes' sandals!"

"Ah." Yuyuko giggled as she pulled out her fan and used it to hide her devious smile. "That explains your speed. As I recall from a reading session a few years back, Hermes is noted to be a witty trickster." She let out another long giggle. "Now, what's a meathead like a oni doing with a trickster's sandals…"

"I can't fly without them!" Shinwa pounded her foot against the ground before leaping into the air with her spear posed to pin someone down. She let out a shrill scream as she came down like a meteor on the group, forcing them to scatter. As Shinwa landed on the ground with enough to send out a massive shockwave that reached high in the air enough to make Keine and Ran to lose control and fall down to the ground.

Shinwa got close to Keine first. The teacher hadn't gotten all of her strength back, so she focused on defending and making a escape. And the oni guard knew that all too well: as soon as Keine tried to make a break for it, Shinwa leapt over Keine's head and attempted to stab her. Keine did manage to deflect the spear by pushing the part of the pole near the spearhead, but ended up getting swiped across the chest.

"We need to keep this in the air!" Kasen shouted to the rest. "If we tried to fight her on the ground, she will easily beat us all!"

"That's easy!" Cirno boasted, throwing down a giant spear of ice. "This will be easy as…"

Cirno got cut off by a flying oni, tackling her like a flying football and running straight into the side of the mountain. The little, yet highly stupid fairy, got embedded into the mountainside and promptly got removed from the fight this early on. Shinwa launched herself off the mountainside to continue her assault on the rest.

Shinwa threw her spear once again, aiming straight at Kasen's body. Kasen jumped up and gently landed on the spear, ran across it on tip-toes, before gliding off it to deliver a kick at Shinwa. The oni hopped back and swung out with a sweeping kick, to which Kasen blocked. The blows, blocks and dodges were exchanged back and forth without any breaks or any blows landing on flesh. The rest could simply just watch, as the flurry of blows started to explode the air around the two fighters.

"This skill…" Shinwa commented on as she caught Kasen's fist and bent it down. "It seems like I'm facing against another oni."

"I'm a mere hermit, that's all." Kasen grunted as she shoved herself against Shinwa to free herself. Shinwa staid her ground and pushed back, putting on some serious strain onto Kasen's trapped arm. Shinwa twisted around, forcing Kasen to fall onto her knees, allowing Shiwna to raise her leg up to stomp down on Kasen's exposed arm.

Yuyuko dived down and let out a wave of butterflies on top of Shiwna. It didn't seem to hurt her as it more distracted her from finishing off Kasen. Kasen took the opportunity to headbutt Shiwna in the stomach. Shiwna let out gasp of pained air as she let go of Kasen. Kasen spun away to get back with the rest.

"Let's do the smart thing and team up." Keine groaned.

"Yeah, the more the merrier!" Shiwna hollered out as she made her spear return to her hands.

"No…" Kasen groaned as she allowed her hurting arm to go limp to rest. "The way she fought just now…she's just using a little bit of her power. If we try to group up, she's going to seriously tear us apart."

"You got it!" Shiwna let out a yawn. "I'm not going to waste my energy on one punk, I'm going to go all out if you try to do the stupid thing of trying to gang up on the hero of the story!"

"Hero?" Kasen questioned immediately. "You? You're trying to kill use to protect the ruler of an evil palace!"

"I'm the hero of my own story, I'm always in the right." Shiwna tapped her spear on the ground. "So, enough talking, more slaughter!"

Shiwna let out a wild laugh as she launched herself straight forward like a cannonball. Once more, the air exploded around her, sending out shockwaves that forced the group to scatter. While Kasen is closer, Shinwa decided to go after the weaker ones in the herd: the injured Keine and the mini-shikigami Chen.

To give her a chance to after her top two targets, Shiwna stabbed her spear hard into the ground. A whirlwind of sharp air started to form around the spear, and started to grow at a alarming fast rate, eventually enveloping the entire battlefield in a giant tornado that sucked everyone inside. Shiwna quickly spotted Keine gripping onto a rock to keep herself from flying up into the vortex.

Shiwna leapt up and landed on Keine, squashing her down. Shiwna grabbed Keine by her arms and pulled back, intending to snap her back in half. Keine could only groan and cry out in pain as she could feel her spine being bent further and further.

"Hey Shinny!"

"It's Shiwna!" Shiwna called out.

"Catch!" Chen bellowed over the piercing winds. She tossed the spear right at Shiwna. Shiwna sighed, let go of one of Keine's arm, and handily caught the spear. Despite failing to inflict any damage whatsoever, it did serve as a decent distraction to give Kasen time to get out of the tornado and kick Shiwna off Keine. With her concertation broken, the tornado faded away.

Kasen continued her assault by jabbing Shiwna in the stomach to keep her stunned before uppercutting Shiwna right in the jaw. Keine had to clench her own jaw tight after delivering that punch. It felt like she just smashed her fist against a wall of solid steel! While she didn't cry out in pain or flinch too much, it still made her hesitate enough for Shinwa to grab her and throw her into the wall.

"Pretty good…" Shiwna commented on as she wiped her jaw of a little bit of blood. "But for a oni, you're out of shape."

"Again, not a oni." Kasen grunted as she regained her breathing. "But I am missing a arm." She tapped her wrapped-up arm. "You really do remind me of a old friend…you're blood-thirsty and savage to the core."

Shiwna yawned before back-handing Keine, who attempted to strike back. "I think I can guess who 'ya'are talking about." She called her spear back and leaned on it. The rest of the group kept their ground, not sure if Shiwna is preparing to do another powerful attack. "This is wasting time. For both of us." She shook her head. "Right now, the five of you still standing isn't really posing much of a threat to me…"

"Consider is a warm-up!" Chen declared as she threw a few punches into the air.

"This is barely one for me." Shiwna mumbled back. "Right!" She straightened out her back before speaking back to the group with a normal voice. "Time to end this before I literally fall asleep on the battlefield." Shiwna inhaled deeply, almost creating a vacuum with the amount of the air she sucked in.

She held the air inside of her for a brief second before exhaling upwards towards the sky. As the large current of air tunneled into the sky, it turned the sky black, a very eerie black. "I had to teach that annoying runt of a magician Tsubasa a little bit of wind magic so she could get this whole thing started. But I'm the real master of wind here!"

"Wait." Keine asked. "If you can control the air, how come you can't fly?"

"None of your business!" A offended Shiwna shouted. "Spell Card!" She held up a glowing card. "Devastation Sign! Susano-o Rampage!" As she finished her declaration, the sky lit up with flashes of powerful lightning. Lightning that started to strike the entire field of conflict in random patterns and intervals.

"Now, the playing field is mine to control!" Shiwna boasted with a intense laughing fit as she watched her opponents scurry around to try and avoid the lightning. "There is no giving up! You either die by my blade, or you'll get electrocuted! This is how a battle is won! Through unstoppable force!"

"THEN I SHALL BECOME THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT!" Chen bellowed as she charged straight at Shiwna. "If Cirno can defeat a ghost, I can defeat a oni!"

"Come at me, cat." Shiwna pumped her chest out and held her arms outward. "I'll skin you as many times as it takes!"


End file.
